French police briefly close off basketball arena ahead of Paris v Maccabi Tel Aviv game over suspicious object

PARIS – 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.

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