Saint-Etienne (France), March 3: Eight buses carrying Marseille fans back from Clermont after a French league game on Saturday night were pelted with objects thrown from a bridge, the the local prefecture said on Sunday.
The latest bus attack to mar the French league this season occured at around 1:30 a.m. on the A47 motorway heading to Lyon, the Loire prefecture said in a statement, on X, adding that “heavy projectiles” were dropped from an overhead bridge. Some Marseille fans then got off and damaged a car, injuring the driver inside.
An official inquest into the incidents has been opened.
Chunks of rubble, mortar and shards of glass were found inside some of Marseille’s buses upon arrival, according to French media reports, and some Marseille fans who got off reportedly had baseball bats ready for a confrontation.
Last month, French soccer club Nice said one of its fans was injured when a bus carrying supporters was pelted with stones after a league game at Lyon.
Earlier this season, Lyon’s team bus was pelted with objects as it approached bitter rival Marseille’s stadium and former Lyon coach Fabio Grosso sustained a serious head injury.
Buses carrying Brest supporters were also targeted after games at Paris Saint-Germain and Montpellier, where a bus was hit by rocks reportedly thrown from a motorway bridge.
This season has been marred by increasing soccer violence in France and elsewhere in Europe, including an incident in which a Greek fan was killed in August following a clash before a Champions League game between AEK Athens and Dinamo Zagreb.
A Nantes fan was stabbed and killed in Nantes before a match against Nice in early December.
Last Saturday, Lille hooligans brawled with Toulouse and PSG hooligans – who have an alliance – in the city center the night before Toulouse’s home game with Toulouse. (AP)
