Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) won’t make tickets available to its fans for away games until further notice following the beating of a supporter before a French league match, the club president said on Tuesday.
A PSG fan was injured in a fight between rival factions of hooligans from the club before the 3-0 home loss to Marseille last weekend.
The 38-year-old fan sustained a serious head injury and was still in critical condition on Tuesday.
“Images of a man lying in his blood at the foot of the Parc des Princes run through my head these past two nights,” Robin Leproux told a press conference. “We reached a climax of violence ... I take my share of responsibility.”
Leproux said he decided to bar supporters from traveling “to act responsibly and guarantee security for all.”
PSG fans’ offices will also be closed and the club won’t appeal if it is sentenced to play matches behind closed doors.
French league president Frederic Thiriez fully supported the measures announced by Leproux.
“The situation created by irresponsible groups has become too serious,” Thiriez said in a statement. “The club, the league and the government must do everything to finally break this spiral, which is disastrous both for the future of the Parisian club and the image of French football.”
The clashes involved hooligans from the two main stands at PSG’s stadium Parc des Princes, the Tribune d’Auteuil and the Kop of Boulogne.
A 30-year-old man suspected of taking part in the beating was arrested after the fight. He was released on Monday night and has not been charged because of lack of evidence, police said on Tuesday.
Marseille fans had boycotted the game to protest against security measures imposed on visiting supporters.
French Sports minister Rama Yade will have a meeting with PSG officials in the coming days while Leproux was to meet Paris’s police prefect yesterday.
Following several months of relative tranquility, Kop of Boulogne and Auteuil fans — angered by their team’s poor results and a mutual opposition to the club’s chief backer, Colony Capital — started fighting again at the end of last year and clashed violently at Lille in January.
Last August, a PSG fan lost an eye after being hit by a bottle of beer during clashes with Montpellier fans.
On Nov. 23, 2006, a member of a group called the Boulogne Boys was shot and killed by a police officer after a UEFA Cup match between PSG and Hapoel Tel Aviv.
The policeman was protecting a Jewish fan under attack from thugs shouting anti-Semitic epithets.
PSG are 12th in the league with 33 points from 26 games, a performance that hardly matches their early season ambition to qualify for the Champions League.
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