Update: Manchester United fans’ treatment in Lyon slammed by Andy Burnham as French authorities respond News

Police in Lyon sprayed tear gas at Manchester United supporters

The treatment of Manchester United supporters who travelled to France to watch their team play was branded as ‘completely unacceptable’, as French authorities responded to complaints over the police’s use of tear gas.

Fans said that they were ‘sprayed’ with a substance while they were locked in the stadium after United’s 2-2 draw against Olympique Lyonnais in Lyon last night. They said that some people were crying and were being sick.

It has been reported that tear gas was used as police prevented fans from using the toilets, while they were held back inside the stadium for an hour after full-time.

Responding to the Manchester Evening News‘s coverage of the episode, Mayor of Greater Manchester and Everton supporter Andy Burnham said on X: “I will be speaking to #MUFC supporters’ groups and raising their concerns with the French authorities. I have experienced similar myself when attending games there. Completely unacceptable.”

The French authorities claimed that United supporters ‘attempted to force their way through’ security measures and that police used ‘moderate’ force in response.

A statement on behalf of Rhône Prefecture, a French government body with responsibility for public safety, shared by BBC reporter Simon Stone, said: “English fans were seated in the away section waiting to be allowed to join their bus.

“They attempted to force their way through the security measures deployed by the national police. Projectiles were also reported to be thrown at the police.

“The police therefore used moderate, proportionate and necessary force (tear gas) to restore calm. All the English supporters were then led to the buses to leave the stadium. It was a very brief moment and that the rest of the event went well overall. We are committed to doing everything possible to welcome foreign supporters in safe conditions.”

But Ronan Evain, executive director of fan network Football Supporters Europe, criticised the police response.

“It is completely unacceptable that the police would think it’s okay to stop people from going to the toilets, and then the reaction to it is completely disproportionate,” he told PA.

“It is human nature that people will lose their temper if the police take away basic elements of basic human dignity like being allowed to go to the toilet. There, the police is responsible for creating this tension, for escalating it instead of taking the only logical decision in this situation, which is to permit people to go to the toilet, even if it’s only small groups. That they’re choosing to escalate this even further can’t be justified.”

Eyewitness Jason White, 50, told the M.E.N. about his experience of the incident in Lyon’s Groupama Stadium. He said: “I remember just after the final-whistle, all of a sudden I just started sneezing. Not just once or twice, but a good few times, which I thought was a bit strange.

“I looked round and everyone was covering their faces. This waft across the stand, it was like a blanket. It lasted for a good five or ten minutes. At least one person was being sick.

“There were some elderly people, and some must have had underlying health issues. Some people must have been really frightened and scared. “Some people were crying.”

Jason said he didn’t see what prompted the substance to be released but says he believes some fans had tried to access the concourse. “It’s taking a sledgehammer to hammer a screw,” he said. “It’s disproportionate. Lots of innocent people have been affected.”

Duncan Drasdo, chair of the Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST), was at the game and said it his ‘worst experience in terms of policing and restrictions on freedom in 34 years of European away football travel.’

He said he left the stadium before the incident but had received numerous reports about it from fellow supporters. He said ‘there was no trouble’ and he was not aware of violence or incidents that may have necessitated its use.

There were also issues with the collection of match tickets for the game. United fans were required by local authorities to travel to a conference centre 13 miles away from the city centre to collect wristbands, before boarding shuttle buses to the ground.

Some fans, who had travelled to Lyon for the game, said the combination of long queues and a malfunctioning public transport network made them decide to watch the game in a bar nearby rather than travel to the ground.

Mr Evain added: “This new set-up with this mandatory collection outside of the city is highly impractical. It is even harder to justify before a game like Man United when there is strictly no high-risk fans and no record of incidents with Man United fans travelling in Europe for a very, very long time.

“So, what we see is a blanket approach to security by local public authorities with no regard for the comfort of away fans.”