Three minutes before the kick-off of the meeting between the “Olympics” – from Marseille and Lyon –, Sunday October 29, the announcer of the Stade-Vélodrome announced the cancellation of the match. The reason ? The attack on the buses of the Rhone team and their supporters, which notably caused the injury of the now ex-Italian coach of Les Gones, Fabio Grosso.
On the sidelines of the meeting, some of the Lyon supporters stood out in this chaotic evening for racist behavior – Nazi salutes, monkey cries… Guillaume P., 33 years old, and Eymeric R., 35 years old, two “historic » of the small far-right hooligan group Mezza, were also seen in the visitor park unfurling a tarpaulin resembling the flag of the SS Charlemagne division.
Already convicted in 2012 for acts of racist and anti-Semitic degradation, the two men had been tried since January by the Marseille criminal court for “provocation of racial hatred and racial insults” and “introduction or carrying into a sports venue of an object inciting hatred or discrimination.” They were sentenced, Tuesday March 12, to four and six months in prison for the second offense, but were however acquitted of the first offense, which the magistrates considered “insufficiently characterized” – while one of them admitted on the stand to having performed an outstretched arm salute.
According to the jurisprudence of the press law – which punishes these offenses – the ” provocation “ must consist of encouraging racist hatred, and not only acts that are themselves racist. And Guillaume P. and Eymeric R. were prosecuted for making Nazi salutes and racist cries from the stands and for having brandished a flag evoking that of the Charlemagne division, a unit of the Waffen-SS made up mainly of French volunteers. A standard which is that of a group of far-right hooligans from Lyon, Mezza Lyon, not recognized by OL, which they co-founded.
One of the men admitted to the audience an outstretched arm salute and racist cries (monkey cries and insults), describing them as “gesture of annoyance and provocation linked to a context of extreme tension” around the OM-OL meeting.
Both sentenced to prison, the two men will be able to serve their sentence under an electronic bracelet, and will also be banned from the stadium for three years, as well as a fine of more than 6,300 euros to be paid to the parties. civilians, including the Professional Football League (LFP), Olympique Lyonnais, Olympique de Marseille, Licra, SOS Racisme et Sportitude. OL had condemned the facts and quickly asked identification of perpetrators using video surveillance images.
The two men were also ordered to pay 500 euros each in damages to Licra, SOS Racisme and the Sportitude association, and one euro each to Olympique Lyonnais and Olympique de Marseille as well as to the Professional Football League, all civil parties.