Attack in stadium in France
Men turn themselves in after attacking boys with cancer
06/12/2023, 7:38 p.m
The attack on a boy with cancer and his father in a stadium in France causes horror. Now two fans face the police and want to talk. Video surveillance images are also evaluated. You should relieve the two – at least a little.
A week and a half after the attack on an eight-year-old boy with cancer at a French Ligue 1 game, two men have been taken into police custody. The two turned themselves in to the police, as the German Press Agency learned from the public prosecutor’s office in the Corsican port city of Ajaccio. According to the broadcaster France Bleu, the men wanted to describe “their version of the incident”.
Suffering from a brain tumour, Kenzo and his parents all wore OM shirts for the match between AC Ajaccio and Olympique Marseille in early June. According to them, Kenzo and his father were attacked by Corsican fans at the island’s capital’s stadium. The boy’s mother told the newspaper “Le Parisien”: “Kenzo was pushed onto an iron bar and they asked his father for his OM jersey. Then they gave him two punches.” She called out to the attackers: “Don’t you see that it’s a sick child, a child who has cancer, leave it alone!”
The case had caused horror in France. President Emmanuel Macron called for clear and tough sanctions for the attackers. Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra spoke of unacceptable violence that must be punished. The Corsican club initially condemned the attack on little Kenzo in the strongest possible terms. “These individuals in no way represent the values of our club and our island,” it said in a statement. “Even the most extreme stupidity cannot excuse this behavior.”
A few days ago, however, the club announced that it appeared that the information initially disseminated about the case was only partially true. The video surveillance shows that the severity of the actions of some fans have been greatly exaggerated.