AILSA CHANG, HOST:
French authorities are going ahead with a soccer match tomorrow night in Paris between the national teams of France and Israel. Police have declared it a high-risk game. Officials fear the kind of violence that took place last week when a club team from Tel Aviv played in Amsterdam. Officials also say it is important to remain firm in the country with Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim communities. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: So I'm at the Stade de France. This is the big stadium where the match, France-Israel, will be held on Thursday night. And there's a young man who works for a security company who's got a drill, and he's out tightening the screws on all of these fences.
Abdel says his boss won't let him give his last name for security reasons.
ABDEL: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: "Nobody will be able to get through this perimeter now," he says.
Four thousand police officers will be on duty along with 1,600 staff, maintaining security both inside and outside the stadium. The shocking scenes of Tel Aviv soccer fans being chased down and attacked in Amsterdam went around the world. French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau called it an antisemitic pogrom and says that's precisely why the France-Israel match must take place.
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BRUNO RETAILLEAU: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: "We saw the return of absolute evil," he said, "so we have to fight. This is also symbolic. We can't yield or show the slightest weakness."
But there's a bit of a debate in France about what really happened last week in the Netherlands because other images from Amsterdam show supporters of the Tel Aviv team chanting anti-Arab slogans and tearing down Palestinian fla #3gs.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: On this popular TV talk show, Jewish participants argued over whether the violence was antisemitic or possibly anti-Israeli...
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Non-English language spoken).
BEARDSLEY: ...Caused by hooligans or anger over the war in Gaza. The French government has worked hard to keep the conflict from being imported here, deploying large number of police at both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrations. President Emmanuel Macron says he plans to attend the game to support the French team and to send a message of fraternity and solidarity after what happened in Amsterdam. Two former French presidents will also be in the stands.
Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.
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