The recent excesses and the police measures which have raised the question of the way in which groups of supporters are managed in France. Between the freedom of supporters and the maintenance of public order, the prefectures play a balancing act that is often misunderstood or perceived negatively. This is what Antoine MORDACQ, divisional commissioner at the Paris police headquarters and former director of the National Directorate for the Fight against Hooliganism (DNLH), explains to us.
How to specifically supervise a (Site notre bureau spécialisé) match?
Much depends on the configuration of the stadium in question. What happened this weekend in Marseille for example (clashes with PAOK supporters), could not have happened at the Parc des Princes. As a general rule, security inside a stadium is provided by the club in question, which involves a private company. The forces of order are responsible for maintaining public order outside the stadium, and for supervising groups of supporters on the road leading to the match. It is possible that the police will be forced to return inside the enclosure, in the event of a significant overflow. In this case, the club makes a requisition to ask the police to enter. It may happen that it is the prefect himself who decides to intervene, but this is extremely rare.
In the event of such an overflow, what is the reaction of the prefecture internally?
Since January 2022, the prefectures have had a crisis unit format imposed by the Ministry of the Interior. This cell is made up of the prefect or his representative, the referee of the meeting and the representatives of the two clubs concerned, but not the presidents. It aims to resolve crisis situations in 30 minutes. Before the month of January, these cells already existed, but their formation was free and above all there was no planned duration. In most cases, their training was similar and the government only endorsed an already existing format.
Since we are talking about the Ministry of the Interior, how does the latter pilot the actions of the prefectures?
The government and the prefectures are naturally in constant cooperation. First, as we have mentioned, there is the format of the crisis units, which was set in stone by a directive from the Ministry of the Interior. Next, we must distinguish between the functions of these two organs of the State. As part of the travel of supporters, the prefectures are responsible for supervising these trips. Thus, the decrees taken in this direction are responsible for enforcing the maintenance of public order while allowing the exercise of supporterism. This is for example the case of orders prohibiting the wearing of jerseys of the visiting team when receiving a rival team, although this measure is not applied too much in Paris. This measure is intended to protect visiting supporters, who are thus not recognizable and avoid being attacked. When the situation presents too great a risk, it is not within the competence of a prefecture to purely and simply prohibit travel. It is the Minister of the Interior himself who issues a prohibition order, which prevents any movement of supporters.
And the place of the supporter in all this?
The prefectures discuss mainly with the clubs and do not have a direct exchange with the groups of supporters. Rather, it was territorial intelligence that was discussed with them regarding security. The DNLH also worked like that and it probably still does (Antoine MORDACQ left the DNLH 2 years ago). It is better to go through the clubs for two reasons. The first is legal, the clubs being responsible for their supporters and their actions, it is normal that it is they who express themselves on the way in which a trip or a reception will not take place. The second is more political. There are many clubs where the supporters are in conflict with the management, as in Nantes for example, and where it will therefore be impossible to obtain a consensus on the part of the club and the supporters.
This is what cooperation at the national level is about. Is there a subject of international cooperation?
When it comes to international cooperation, the clubs talk to each other a lot. It’s the format of European Cup matches that wants that. Indeed, the home and away format encourages the two clubs to exchange on security to ensure the safety of their supporters at home and during the trip. As far as public authorities are concerned, there is also a great deal of cooperation. The European Union foresees a point of reference in each country responsible for being the one-stop-shop for information on supporters. This National (Site notre blog d’information) Information Point (PNIF) is responsible for communicating to its foreign counterpart all the specificities of its local supporters, and indicating the measures that would be the most effective. In France, this role is performed by the DNLH. This system is exclusive in Europe and tends to be found in all countries in the case of the coupé du monde, for example. International cooperation should be accompanied by “spotters”, which is known to be the real supporters and is also capable of recognition in another context.
Many thanks to Antoine MORDACQ for the time spent at the time.
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