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French minister calls for tougher security after crowd trouble at football match

Incident at Marseille-Lyon match, in which fans threw bottles onto pitch, comes less than a year before France hosts Euro 2016 finals.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

France's secretary of state for sport Thierry Braillard has called for tougher security inside French stadia after crowd trouble marred a Ligue 1 game at Marseille's Stade Velodrome on Sunday, reports The Star.

The Olympique de Marseille v Olympique Lyonnais game, which ended in a 1-1 draw, was interrupted for 23 minutes after fans threw glass bottles onto the pitch.

"It's unacceptable and I think we need to stand more firm on the security checks," Braillard told RTL radio on Monday.

"We're six months away from the Euro (European Championship), which is a fantastic event, and I'm urging everyone to take the measure of what happened.

"There are security conditions that need to be respected, you cannot have glass bottles in the stands."

OM president Vincent Labrune said on Sunday that the club would "assume its responsibilities".

Read more of this Reuters report published by The Star.