Paris deploys 22,000 officers as PSG fans celebrate Champions League win
Paris put 22,000 officers on the streets as PSG’s victory drew flares, arrests and teargas, reviving fears of another night of mass unrest.
Paris deployed 22,000 officers across France, including 8,000 in the capital, as Paris Saint-Germain fans filled streets and stadium plazas after the club’s Champions League final victory over Arsenal. The scale of the operation reflected how quickly a sporting triumph in France’s largest city can become a public-order emergency.
PSG beat Arsenal 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw following extra time in Budapest, and celebrations in Paris centered on the huge screens at Parc des Princes in western Paris, where about 40,000 people gathered to watch. Footage from the area showed brief skirmishes and teargas near the stadium as police moved to contain the crowds.
By late Saturday, police had detained more than 130 people in Paris, with other reports putting the number above 200 in the capital. Authorities said six vehicles and two storefronts were damaged, and some supporters tried to storm a police station, underscoring how fast celebratory crowds can turn volatile when alcohol, flares and mass movement mix with thin margins for crowd control.
The heavy deployment came with the memory of last year’s PSG celebrations still fresh. In May 2025, French authorities said more than 550 people were arrested nationwide after the club’s earlier Champions League run, 192 people were injured and two people died in separate incidents. That earlier violence helped set the posture for this year’s response, which treated the streets of Paris less like a victory parade than a potential security test.
For French authorities, the problem is no longer limited to football fandom. It is the strain major marquee events place on policing, the difficulty of separating spontaneous celebration from criminality, and the need to protect city centers, transport corridors and local businesses when emotions spill past midnight. The numbers from Paris showed the burden of that task, and how quickly a trophy celebration can become a measure of the country’s readiness for the next mass gathering.
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