Eight buses carrying supporters of Olympique de Marseille (OM) were targeted by projectiles on the night of Saturday March 2 to Sunday March 3, while they were traveling on the highway, informed the Loire prefecture. They stopped in the middle of the A72 and some of the passengers injured a motorist.
These “serious incidents” took place around 1:30 a.m. near Saint-Etienne, while the eight buses were returning to Marseille after OM’s victory over Clermont (5-1) in Ligue 1, the prefecture said in a press release. According to her, “heavy projectiles” have “probably” were launched from a bridge overlooking the A47. Some fans would then have come out and “would have damaged a vehicle in particular, injuring its driver, before leaving”.
This motorist was injured in the face and transported by firefighters to the Saint-Etienne University Hospital, police sources said, adding that a ” large number “ supporters got off the buses, some armed with baseball bats. When they arrived, the police found pieces of rubble, mortars and broken windows, but the coaches had left. The police caught up with them further away and carried out identity checks, but they did not make any arrests at this stage, according to another source.
Two open investigations
The Saint-Etienne public prosecutor’s office told Agence France-Presse that it had opened two separate investigations: one for violence with weapons in meetings with premeditation concerning the throwing of projectiles; the other for degradation in a meeting with weapons, for reprisals. In his press release, the prefect of the Loire, Alexandre Rochatte, “deplores and condemns with the greatest firmness” unacceptable acts Who “could have had dramatic consequences”.
On the night of February 16 to Saturday, February 17, a stone passed through the windshield of a bus carrying OGC Nice supporters on the A46 motorway, while the Riviera fans were returning after the Ligue 1 match, opposing their club at Olympique Lyonnais (OL), in Lyon. The end of 2023 had already been marked by clashes on the sidelines of several football matches. On October 29, in particular, the kick-off of the match between OM and OL was canceled, after the Rhone players’ bus was targeted by projectiles upon its arrival at the Stade-Vélodrome. The then coach, Fabio Grosso, and his assistant were injured.