Surely there’s some middle ground here?

As I wasn’t there I’m not going to jump to conclusions, but I don’t think it’s implausible, given the huge number of people who travelled there from Liverpool, that some of them didn’t have tickets. Assuming they were just going to enjoy the atmosphere and be part of the spectacle is perfectly fine, but I don’t think it’d be unreasonable to suggest *some* of them would try to get into the stadium. Likewise, given that St Denis is in places a fairly deprived area with its share of issues, it’s likely that there would be some local yoof wanting to be part of the action or even provoke it. It’s not like that wouldn’t happen here, is it? Then you’ve got the local reaction to having your street, square, whatever, “taken over” by thousands of well-lubricated hilarious scousers. However well-meaning they may be, it’s a pain in the arse. Police reaction to this is pretty similar all over the place, not just France. As for politicians’ reactions, I’m not overly surprised to see the British being portrayed somewhat negatively, given the way the French are routinely described in our independent and well-scrutinised media. It’s not a case of innocent v guilty, it’s an imperfect world with imperfect people.

Posted By: APB, May 30, 10:26:59