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Soccer bigots create climate of hate in France
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PARIS (AP) - Warming up on the sideline, a black player jogs toward
fans at the Parc des Princes soccer stadium. As he gets closer,
a barrage of monkey chants explodes - "OOOH! OOOH! OOOH!"-
and racist insults fill the air.
RACISM RUNS RAMPANT
Such scenes are increasingly common at the home stadium of Paris
Saint-Germain, or PSG, one of France's top soccer teams. And they
stain elite soccer leagues elsewhere in Europe, raising fears a
global sport that calls itself "the beautiful game" is
getting uglier.
Many of the fans yelling insults are members of white hooligan
gangs that prowl the stadium grounds on game day, looking for a
rumble with black and Arab members of a multiethnic rival gang.
Interviews with gang members and repeated visits to PSG games found
that racist hooligans operate openly and with almost total impunity
at the 43,000-seat stadium on the western outskirts of Paris.
Soccer, with its many black stars, should be a showcase of multiracial
harmony - especially in France, which draws heavily on talent from
its former African colonies.
Instead, brawling soccer fans have emerged as the extreme fringe
of a deeply troubled France - one whose problems include grappling
with stiffening resistance to immigration. After the riots that
engulfed immigrant-dominated French suburbs last fall, beer-fueled
racism in soccer has taken on an even more menacing tinge.
Unlike soccer hooliganism elsewhere, in which the antagonists are
fans of rival teams, the clashes outside Parc des Princes are largely
between fans rooting for the same team - PSG.
PSG supporters in the bleachers divide along racial lines in two
opposing sections of stands - the Kop of Boulogne behind one goal,
and the Tribune d'Auteuil behind the other.
Boulogne is nearly entirely Caucasian; Auteuil is multiracial,
including whites.
Two all-white groups - the Independents and the Casual Firm - have
fought with increasing ferocity in recent months with multiracial
Tigris Mystic. (The English-language names of the white groups reflect
the influence English soccer hooliganism has had in Europe.)
The race issue comes out clearly in interviews with gang members
on both sides, none of whom agreed to be identified by name because
they have police records and fear more trouble with the authorities.
One leading member of the Independents, dressed in a designer overcoat
and proudly showing off a finger that got bent out of shape in a
fan skirmish, said his gang is out to rid the suburbs of blacks
and Arabs.
A high-ranking Tigris Mystic man said his group is fighting back
against such "fascist" views.
"We've had enough of being knocked around," said the
23-year-old man of North African descent.
Tigris Mystic is based in the Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis,
one of the centers of last fall's riots. Casual Firm hooligans wielding
iron bars vandalized its headquarters in October, just days before
the violence broke out.
On Feb. 25, Tigris Mystic members, some allegedly armed with machetes
and nail-studded planks of wood, ambushed 20 Independents at a highway
gas station on their way back from a match. Five people were injured.
PSG, where George Weah of Liberia and Ronaldinho of Brazil once
displayed their magic, is not alone in facing racist outrages.
In Spain, Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon threatened
to walk off the field after Zaragoza fans subjected him to monkey
chants in February. In Italy, right-wing fans have displayed Nazi
and fascist symbols and anti-Semitic banners at Rome's Stadio Olimpico.
But some black players say the atmosphere at Parc des Princes has
become intolerable.
"I'd have to think twice before setting foot there again,"
Senegal-born Patrick Vieira, a midfielder for the French national
team, told The Associated Press.
During one match, a fan yelled at PSG midfielder Vikash Dhorasoo,
a France international midfielder of Indian origin, "Go sell
peanuts in the metro." It was among the least offensive shout
in a tirade of vulgar epithets for blacks.
PSG officials insist racists are a minority among the fans, and
that their powers to combat such racists are limited - even with
102 cameras inside the stadium.
"Understand one thing: PSG has no police authority or lawmaking
power," the club's director of communications, Jean-Philippe
d'Halliville, said in an interview. "You can't ask PSG to arrest
and judge people. Things don't work that way in France."
Yet, former hooligans have been hired as stadium ushers. At a recent
match, some on them were on first-name terms with known troublemakers
and were letting them in without tickets or a search.
When told of this, d'Halliville appeared surprised and said only
that he would "make some calls." However, he did not condemn
the presence of former hooligans acting as ushers.
"Even if there are former hooligans who work in the security
services, are you not allowed a second chance?" he asked. "Should
they bear a cross all their lives?"
"That's just passing the buck," said Piara Power, director
of the British-based Kick It Out anti-racism campaign. "Denial
is a big thing among football administrators. Unfortunately, turning
the other cheek is easier."
Ushers did just that before a PSG game against Sochaux on Jan.
4. Two Arab youths were punched and kicked by white fans outside
the entrance to the Kop de Boulogne. Ushers, all white, stood chatting
and did not intervene.
Interior Minister and presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy has
promised to rid PSG of troublesome fans. He wants them banned from
matches and has championed anti-terrorism legislation that would
boost video surveillance at stadiums.
On March 7, a Paris court convicted three PSG supporters of unfurling
a racist banner at a February 2005 match held in support of an anti-racism
campaign. The court banned the fans from the stadium for three years,
ordering them to report to police during matches, and fined them
up to $1,200.
But that was a minor success in the fight against racist hooligans.
And now a fresh cloud looms - this summer's World Cup tournament
in Germany, which many fear will be a magnet for hooligans.
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