A VTC driver was taken into custody on Sunday in the investigation into intentional homicide opened after the murder of an FC Nantes supporter, killed during an altercation on Saturday shortly before the Ligue 1 match against OGC Nice. “A VTC driver went to the Nantes police station this Sunday morning, at 4:30 a.m., and was taken into custody on charges including intentional homicide,” the prosecutor said in a press release on Sunday morning. of the Republic of Nantes, Renaud Gaudeul. “It is a 35-year-old man,” specifies the prosecutor.
A wound in the back
Many witnesses to the tragedy, which occurred not far from the Beaujoire stadium when the match had not yet started, had already begun to be interviewed by the police last night. According to Renaud Gaudeul, “shortly before 8:00 p.m., several VTC vehicles transporting Nice supporters were attacked by supporters of FC Nantes” on their way to the Nantes stadium. “During these events, in circumstances which remain to be determined, a 31-year-old man, a supporter of FC Nantes, collapsed” and “died on the spot”, “despite the rapid intervention of emergency services”, he added during the night.
“The very first forensic investigations show that the victim has a wound in the back, which could correspond to a bladed weapon,” said the Nantes prosecutor. According to a source close to the case interviewed on Saturday evening by AFP, the deceased man, a member of the Loire Brigade, the main group of supporters of FC Nantes, received a stab, probably from one of the VTC drivers caught at part.
Horde of hooded supporters?
The daily Presse Océan collected the testimony of one of the drivers of the VTC convoy who said he was attacked without being a direct witness to the homicide. “We were in a convoy (two vans and six other cars) to drop off thirty Nice supporters at the stadium when a horde of supporters hooded in black or yellow and green (the colors of FC Nantes) appeared and attacked us,” he said. he told Presse Océan. “They started opening the doors and hitting my customers inside. I rolled down my window and told them to stop it. A guy kicked my grille. He s “went back, he hit my windshield (…) And all my other colleagues were attacked too”, said the driver.
FC Nantes and the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, expressed their “pain” and sent their condolences to the loved ones of the deceased supporter, as did the Professional Football League (LFP). In Nantes, members of the Loire Brigade painted a fresco “Max forever” on Sunday on a low wall near the scene of the tragedy in memory of their comrade. And PSG supporters, traveling to Le Havre with their team, had for their part displayed a banner “Maxime rest in peace” in the stadium during the meeting, noted an AFP journalist.
A context of tensions and incidents
The attack on the Nantes supporter comes in a context of tensions and incidents on the sidelines of Ligue 1 matches. Last Sunday, two Brest supporters were slightly injured by shards of glass when their bus was hit by projectiles after the victory of their club 3-1 in Montpellier. Before the match, the police had to use tear gas and batons to repel a “hundred Montpellier supporters, partly hooded and armed with iron bars and batons”, upon the arrival of Brest supporters. , according to the Hérault prefecture.
At the end of October, the Olympique Lyonnais bus was stoned before the match against Marseille at the Stade Vélodrome, injuring Lyon coach Fabio Grosso and his assistant Raffaele Longo.