The Paris St Germain soccer team will not face disciplinary proceedings after their fans unfurled a “Free Palestine” banner before kickoff in yesterday’s Champions League game at home to Atletico Madrid, European soccer’s governing body UEFA says.
The 50×20-meter banner was displayed in the Auteuil Kop of the Parc des Princes, prompting France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau to criticize the Qatar-owned club.
As well as the slogan “Free Palestine,” the banner showed a bloodstained Palestinian flag, a gesticulating man with a keffiyeh scarf covering all his face except his eyes, the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and a young boy wrapped in the Lebanese flag. It also depicted the entire State of Israel within the pattern of a keffiyeh as the letter “i” of “Palestine.”
Under the banner, a message unrolled by the PSG fans read: “War on the pitch, but peace in the world.” Later in the game, another message was unveiled, saying: “Does a child’s life in Gaza mean less than another?”
Spectators unfurl a huge a banner reading “Free Palestine,” depicting the entire State of Israel within the pattern of a keffiyeh in the letter “i,” alongside Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock, Lebanese flag imagery, prior to the UEFA Champions League soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Atletico Madrid, at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris on November 6, 2024. (Reuters/Stephanie Lecocq)
UEFA bans “provocative” or “insulting” political messages in stadiums, but says the banner will not lead to potential sanctions despite some uproar in France and although previous political messages at matches resulted in punishments.
“There will… be no disciplinary case because the banner that was unfurled cannot be in this case considered provocative or insulting,” a UEFA spokesperson says.
The announcement appeared to mark a break in the UEFA’s policy of strictly policing nationalist messages at soccer games.
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