Border roads between France and Belgium will be closed on Monday during the round of 16 match of Euro-2024 where the two countries will face each other. The objective is to “prevent possible overflows”, announced mayors of border towns.
Roads linking France and Belgium will be closed on Monday during the France-Belgium match, in the round of 16 of Euro 2024 football, announced ten mayors and burgomasters of border towns who wish to “prevent possible overflows”. “Blocking or filtering roadblocks will be organized at the various border crossings, starting at 4:00 p.m. on Monday”, two hours before the kick-off of the match, indicate the ten elected officials, two Belgians and eight French, in a joint press release. They will only be lifted “during the night, if the context allows”, it is also written.
“Prohibitions on gatherings”
However, three bridges will remain open within this perimeter, the city of Comines indicated on Facebook. The municipalities concerned, including Armentières (25,000 inhabitants), cover the border for around twenty kilometers, on the portion where it is drawn by the Lys river, to the northwest of the metropolis of Lille.
These measures aim to “prevent possible excesses”, write the elected officials, who specify that “bans on gatherings will be taken to prevent and repress hostile gatherings”. A feeling of revenge has animated the Red Devils since the semi-final of the 2018 World Cup, lost 1-0 against the Blues, which had deeply and lastingly vexed them.