Several investigations were opened after the incidents which led to the interruption of the Nice-OM match on Sunday evening, the Nice prosecutor’s office said on Monday. “An investigation is underway, but there is no custody” at this stage, said the prosecution. In the afternoon, the prosecution announced the opening of other investigations.
“On the report of the services of the Departmental Directorate of Public Security of the Alpes Maritimes, the Nice prosecutor’s office ordered the opening of several preliminary investigations at this stage of the heads of entry on a playground of sprotive enclosure disturbing the course of the competition, throwing projectiles posing a danger to the safety of people in a sports arena, the use of movable and real estate installations within a sports arena as a projectile, serious damage as well as aggravated willful violence committed during ‘a sporting event,’ the statement said.
“The safety of our players was not guaranteed”
The match counting for the third day of Ligue 1 was stopped an hour and a half, after supporters invaded the pitch following an incident that ignited the match: yet another plastic bottle thrown at Dimitri Payet, which the latter returned to the rostrum.
A security cordon of stewards, dressed in yellow vests, tried to stop the supporters, but blows were exchanged in different parts of the field, in a scrimmage between players of the two teams, supporters and stewards. Nice led 1-0, but the match did not end: after 90 minutes of procrastination, the meeting was definitively stopped when the referee noticed the absence of the Marseillais.
The president’s words following the incidents tonight at the Allianz Riviera. #OGCNOM pic.twitter.com/DqyVtWXQJp
– Olympique de Marseille (@OM_Officiel) August 22, 2021
“The League (LFP) has decided to resume the match. We decided for the safety of our players, who were attacked during the invasion of the field, not to resume because the safety of our players was not guaranteed ”, explained the president of OM, Pablo Longoria. , in a video sent to the media.
Nice wanted to resume the game. “I know very well that the game could have resumed. I was convinced that it would go very well ”, declared for his part the President of Nice Jean-Pierre Rivère.
