NEWCASTLE, England (AP) — A Newcastle fan was “indiscriminately assaulted” by French police after the Champions League match against Marseille, the Premier League club said Thursday.
Newcastle have formally raised concerns with UEFA, French police and Marseille about what they describe as “unacceptable treatment”.
Marseille won 2-1 in the match played at the Velodrome on Tuesday. Newcastle announced that fans were forced to wait up to an hour at the stadium after the final whistle. They were allowed to leave 500 people at a time, and police escorted them to the subway station.
Newcastle said in a statement: “Once the first group of supporters were released, police began using unnecessary and unreasonable force to prevent further movement of the remaining fans.” “This was carried out with a combination of pepper spray, batons and shields, and large numbers of supporters were indiscriminately assaulted by police.”
The club said it had asked UEFA and Marseille to investigate and was working with British police to gather evidence.
“The safety and welfare of our supporters must always come first and we strongly condemn the treatment of our supporters by the police in this incident,” the statement said.
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