When the referee whistled the end of the France-Morocco match (2-0) that sealed the pass for Les Bleus to the World Cup final, the celebrations overflowed throughout the French country. Braving the cold, thousands of French fans took to the streets of Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Lille to celebrate the victory. A celebration that, however, was marred by the death of a 14-year-old boy at the festivities in Montpellier.
The police have already announced at dawn that a teenager, who later turned out to be 14 years old, has died after being run over by a driver who then fled. Of course, shortly after “the vehicle was found near the scene of the accident and taken into custody,” added the authorities of the Herault Prefecture, in which Montpellier is located. “The investigation is advancing rapidly under the direction of the Prosecutor’s Office,” they have completed. Images of the incident circulated on social media.
The victim of the hit-and-run has been rushed to the hospital, but the health workers have not been able to do anything for his life and he died shortly after arriving at the health center.
As detailed by the Nupes deputy from the Herault Nathalie Oziol, the events occurred in the popular neighborhood of La Paillade and the victim was 14 years old, she pointed out on Twitter, regretting that this “sports event is ending in an absolute tragedy”.
On the other hand, in Paris, the police have arrested a group of 40 people close to the extreme right who were going to the celebrations for the French triumph on the Champs Elysées.
“Clearly, they wanted to go fight,” a police source said. The authorities have reported that they were carrying prohibited weapons.
The group was arrested in the 17th district of the capital during a control for “grouping for violent purposes” and because they were carrying prohibited weapons, according to the same police source, who added that several of the members of this group were already known for the police for belonging to a movement close to the extreme right.
The police have explained that these arrests have been possible thanks to the control and prevention system prepared on the Champs-Élysées for the World Cup celebrations. Some 2,200 police officers and gendarmes mobilized this Wednesday night in Paris to supervise the festivities.
In total, throughout the country, there were some 10,000 police officers mobilized for the celebrations. Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Lille were some of the main cities where fans of Les Bleus have celebrated qualifying for their fourth World Cup final (victories in 1998 and 2018 and defeat in 2006).
Flares and fireworks have been added to the honking of the vehicles in a meeting that focused all the attention of the country and that even brought its head of state, Emmanuel Macron, to Qatar to witness the match live.
