![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Police-chief-apologises-to-Liverpool-fans-696x392.jpg\" "\\"Police")
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The man in charge of policing the Champions League final in Paris has apologised for using tear gas against Liverpool fans outside the stadium.<\/p>\n
Didier Lallement offered sincere regrets for the trouble and admitted failures in the security operation.<\/p>\n
But he also defended his handling of the chaos last month, saying his \u201cred line\u201d was to save lives.<\/p>\n
French authorities blamed late arrivals and fake tickets for overcrowding and chaotic scenes before the match.<\/p>\n
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Liverpool fans \u2013 including children \u2013 were tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed outside the stadium by police ahead of the final between Liverpool and Real Madrid on 28 May.<\/p>\n
Then as they left the area, some fans were were attacked by 300 to 400 local youths, Mr Lallement said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was obviously a failure, because people were pushed around or attacked even though we owed them security,\u201d Mr Lallement told the French Senate on Thursday.<\/p>\n
He said his force was not prepared for the scale of the problem that thousands of fake tickets caused.<\/p>\n
He explained that using tear gas outside the Stade de France was the only means they had to get the crowd to move back without charging at them: \u201cI think it would have been a mistake to charge at people.\u201d He added that appeals had been made for supporters to move back but they had not worked.<\/p>\n
The police chief was aware that families were caught up in the chaos but he insisted it was absolutely necessary for the match to get underway because the stadium was full.<\/p>\n
The fiasco outside the stadium prompted uproar in France as well as the UK and Spain.<\/p>\n
Interior minister G\u00e9rald Darmanin has come under fire for his own response, blaming the trouble outside the stadium on \u201cmassive, industrial-scale\u201d ticket fraud which caused Liverpool fans to turn up en masse.<\/p>\n
Mr Lallement said the scale of fake tickets had not been considered ahead of the match. Asked why he had put the number of fake tickets at 30-40,000, the police chief admitted he may have been wrong but that was the number he had estimated at the time.<\/p>\n
Liverpool fans have complained of fearing for their safety in the crush, despite arriving hours earlier. But they have also told of local gangs from the Saint-Denis area descending on crowds after the match, stealing phones and watches and threatening them with knives.<\/p>\n
Mr Lallement pledged to do everything he can to find those responsible for the post-match violence and to bring them to justice. He encouraged British and Spanish citizens to file complaints to help find those responsible.<\/p>\n
Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotheram, whose phone was stolen outside the stadium, will give evidence about the chaos to the Senate later on Thursday. The hearing will also hear from the French Football Federation.<\/p>\n
Uefa eventually apologised to fans of both clubs last week for the \u201cfrightening and distressing events\u201d they had witnessed. \u201cNo football fan should be put in that situation, and it must not happen again,\u201d the European football governing body said in a statement.<\/p>\n
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