Football fans clash in Marseille after swine flu sees match cancelled

« Behind the scenes of a fiasco,” reads the headline in today’s Le Parisien. Serious clashes broke out between fans of Paris Saint Germain and arch-rivals Olympique Marseille yesterday. Fears over the spreading of swine flu saw the match shelved, a decision which was unnecessary and saw angers flare, several people told Le Parisien.

The violence broke out in several locations around the city centre. Tear gas was fired to disperse the crowds. Only a dozen or so were injured, the paper says.

Sports paper l’Equipe also leads with the story. Its front page headline is “Fever of violence in Marseille”.

Other stories in today’s French papers:

France Soir
The trial of a repeat offender
France Soir covers the trial of Francis Evrard, a man on trial for raping a little girl. He recently wrote to Nicolas Sarkozy asking to be castrated. Chemical castration is legal in France where the perpetrator agrees to the measure but physical castration is illegal. Mr. Evrard’s request is therefore unlikely to be met…

Libération
In Kabul with the three Afghans deported from France.

Le Figaro
More French cities ban drinking alcohol in public