NEWCASTLE, England (AP) — Fans of Newcastle were “indiscriminately assaulted” by French police following the Champions League game against Marseille, the Premier League club said Thursday.
Newcastle has formally raised concerns with UEFA, French police and Marseille for what it described as “unacceptable treatment.”
Marseille won the game 2-1 at the Velodrome on Tuesday. Newcastle said its fans were made to wait at the stadium for up to an hour after the final whistle. They were allowed to leave 500 at a time and police then escorted them to the Metro station.
“Once the first group of supporters was released, the police began using unnecessary and disproportionate force to stop the remainder of our fans from moving any further,” Newcastle said in a statement. “This was actioned through a combination of pepper spray, batons and shields, with numerous supporters being indiscriminately assaulted by the police.”
The club said it was calling on UEFA and Marseille to investigate and is liaising with UK police to gather evidence.
“Supporter safety and welfare should always be of paramount importance, and we strongly condemn the treatment of our supporters by the police during this incident,” it said.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.