France’s main rail operator has CCTV footage of Champions League final chaos

Callum Boyle

A spokesperson revealed that they have kept CCTV footage

France’s main rail operator SNCF have kept their CCTV footage from the chaos in the build up to the Champions League Final, just days after it was understood that footage at the Stade de France Stadium had been deleted.

As revealed by the Mail on Sunday, a spokesperson from SNCF confirmed they have kept their footage from the night of the final, which saw French authorities heavily criticised as thousands of Liverpool fans were subject to abhorrent treatment.

French law states that all security footage should be deleted seven days after the event unless there is a special request from the authorities to keep it.

“The images are available for seven days. They are then automatically destroyed,” Erwan Le Prevost, director of international relations at the French Football Federation explained.

“We needed a requisition to provide them to the different populations. The images are extremely violent.”

Kick-off at the Stade de France Stadium was delayed twice as thousands of Liverpool supporters were left with no way of getting into the ground and were met with heavy-handed tactics from the French police, including the use of tear gas and pepper spray.

Inquests into what had happened saw Liverpool fans repeatedly blamed by the French government and police who outlandishly claimed that ’30-40,000′ Reds supporters turned up with counterfeit tickets.

The allegations were met with enormous backlash and in particular those on Merseyside – where as many as 9,000 accounts of what happened have been sent to Anfield.

A 30-page document recently concluded that ‘operational failures’ were to blame

A 30-page document authorised by the French Prime Minister has since concluded that “operational failures” were the cause of the chaos that ensued on the night of the Champions League final and the footage from SCNF could go a long way to helping to back up that statement.

They said: “CCTV footage is normally automatically erased after three days. In the case of the Stade de France events, the automatic erasure of footage was blocked and the footage was retained, as permitted by law for a period of 30 days.”

Meanwhile a a judicial source investigating the events told the Mail on Sunday that they had been given the footage of that night.

“The film was seized on Friday, and is vital. SNCF cameras surround the Stade de France, and its approaches. Not only is the Stade at the centre of the rail network, but it’s next door to SNCF headquarters,” he revealed.

“The footage undoubtedly contains more images of violence carried out by all parties to the investigation, including by the police. The key is to work out whether this violence was lawful.”

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