Paris celebrates World Cup win as 1m fans fill Champs-Élysées

International Desk: Tens of thousands of supporters wrapped in red, white and blue flags and singing the French national anthem have poured on to the Champs-Élysées in Paris to celebrate France’s World Cup victory over Croatia, cheering that the nation was now firmly a football superpower.

As the final whistle blew, shouts rang out and vast crowds that had gathered outside local bars began sprinting on to the 1.2 mile (2km) avenue in the centre of Paris.

Riot police stood guard as supporters screamed and sang and let off firecrackers.



The avenue and a large area around it had been closed to traffic after the Paris police chief had warned of a “real terrorist threat” for the public gathering that was expected to last all night and exceed one million people. But even before the match finished, quad bikes and mopeds waving large French flags had attempted to accelerate towards the Arc de Triomphe.

About 90,000 people had squeezed into a fan zone under the Eiffel tower to watch the match. From half-time, buses were stopped from circulating in Paris and some of its suburbs “for security reasons” after many young people had climbed on to the roofs of the vehicles to celebrate after France’s semi-final win last week.



Some supporters on the Champs-Élysées had tears in their eyes with what they called “total love” for the young, diverse French squad that had created what commentators have called a new form of peaceful and multicultural French patriotism that has acted as a balm in a society still shaken by years of terrorist attacks.

At about 11pm, riot police briefly fired teargas at about 30 men throwing stones at shop windows and at police on the northern part of the Champs-Élysées. The Publicis Drugstore shop on the Champs-Élysées suffered damage. Police also fired water-cannon to contain the skirmishes.



France is known for placing more political emphasis on football fixtures than its neighbours. In 1998 when France last won the World Cup, the ethnically diverse team was held up as the solution to France’s race and discrimination issues.

Source: theguardian.com


risingbd/Dhaka/July 17, 2018/Nasim