From the Liveblog of
Thursday, January 16, 2025
French police briefly close off basketball arena ahead of Paris v Maccabi Tel Aviv game over suspicious object
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GooglePARIS – Police briefly close off the Adidas Arena ahead of a Euroleague basketball game between Paris and Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv because of a suspicious package outside the stadium.
A police officer tells Reuters that no one was allowed inside the security perimeter while a dog was sent in to sniff a food delivery package that had been left on a bike.
The package was destroyed on site and spectators were allowed inside the security perimeter after half an hour.
“There was nothing in there,” a police officer tells Reuters. “It was a preventive measure.”
The Euroleague Round 22 match was already classified as high-risk by the French National Division for the Fight against Hooliganism (DNLH), part of the Ministry of the Interior, due to security concerns linked to ongoing geopolitical tensions.
#Euroleague | Dispositif en place à l’Adidas Arena et autour de l’enceinte pour assurer la sécurité des athlètes et spectateurs et le bon déroulement de la rencontre entre le Paris Basketball et le Maccabi Tel-Aviv. pic.twitter.com/sRRKZVvAhd
— Préfecture de Police (@prefpolice) January 16, 2025
The Times of Israel Community.