Although Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) won the Champions League, youths in Paris have taken to the streets to riot and cause a huge wave of destruction, leaving hundreds arrested, dozens of police officers injured and at least one person dead.
PSG defeated Arsenal 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the final, held in Budapest’s Puskás Aréna on May 30. Kai Havertz put Arsenal ahead inside six minutes before Ousmane Dembélé levelled from the penalty spot, with the French side holding their nerve in the shootout to secure a second consecutive European title.
While the majority of fans celebrated peacefully, smaller groups of mostly immigrant youths turned to disorder, setting fires, vandalising shops, launching fireworks at police and damaging vehicles.
Around 20,000 supporters gathered on the Champs-Élysées, with some marching towards the Arc de Triomphe, while officers contained roughly 1,000 people near the PSG stadium in the 16th Arrondissement and cleared barricades built from hire bicycles.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo insisted that the riots were “isolated events”.
French interior minister Laurent Nuñez said some 780 people had been detained nationwide, 480 of them in the Paris region, according to the interior ministry.
Some 57 police officers were injured, most with minor wounds from fireworks and projectiles.
He described the violence as “absolutely unacceptable” and noted that incidents occurred in about 15 cities.
The figure was higher than the more than 500 arrests recorded after the 2025 title celebrations.
“We knew this event would give rise to disorder, so we put in place an exceptional force with extremely firm instructions,” the minister said. “Systematically, there have been interventions to put an end to these abuses.” He added that “if there have been so many arrests, it is because the work has been done well”.
He firmly rejected suggestions that he was “in denial”.
Nuñez said most of the celebrations had passed off peacefully, with the bulk of the trouble concentrated around the Champs-Élysées and the Parc des Princes stadium in western Paris.
Still, a lot of physical damage was done and many businesses were looted, with a bakery and a restaurant among the premises hit.
One fatality was reported after a road accident on Paris’ ring road, the Périphérique, where rioters attempted to block traffic. Police said they had intervened several times overnight to stop crowds from halting traffic on the road.
Some sources mention a second death under investigation, though official confirmation remains limited.
A small group also tried to storm a police station in the upmarket 8th Arrondissement of the capital.
Authorities deployed around 22,000 officers nationwide, including 8,000 in Paris, in anticipation of unrest.
Tear gas was used to disperse crowds in areas such as the Champs-Élysées and near Parc des Princes. Public transport services, including parts of the Metro, were disrupted.
An open-top bus parade for the players went ahead the following day in front of around 100,000 fans and passed largely without incident.
In 2025, similar riots broke out when PSG won the Champions League for the first time, leaving two people dead, about 200 injured and more than 260 vehicles burned. PSG is the most-supported club in France, which helped draw huge crowds onto the streets on both occasions.
Reacting to the violence, National Rally (RN) leader Marine Le Pen said: “Only in France does the victory of a football club spark riots. Only in France does everyone feel compelled to lock themselves in their homes on a night of victory to avoid being confronted with violence.
“The French can no longer stand these scenes of chaos that multiply at the slightest pretext, and this, despite an extraordinary security apparatus. Support for our police officers, our gendarmes, our firefighters, and all those mobilised this evening to ensure the safety of the French.”
Reconquête leader Éric Zemmour said the violence had nothing to do with football. “They are the first symptoms of a civilisational guerrilla war. We need a major remigration policy to bring peace back to France,” he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron did not address the riots and instead commented only on PSG’s victory.
“A new star shines over Paris! Bravo to PSG for making all of Europe dream. France is proud,” he said.
Former European commissioner Thierry Breton blamed the French Government, which he said had set a bad example and had not kept its promises to immigrant youths. Breton said it was for France to teach them “the love of our country”.
Problems in Paris pic.twitter.com/KOU8r5UF4S
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