A fatally ugly incident. Anti-Semitic. Racist. And murderous except for the actions of a brave policeman.

POLICEMAN KILLS PSG* FAN IN POST-MATCH RACIST VIOLENCE

PARIS November 24, 2006 (AFP) - A French police officer [Antoine Granomort] — a black man in plain clothes — shot dead a Paris-Saint Germain [PSG] football fan [Julien Quemener] after being turned on by a mob during racist violence that followed the team's defeat by Israeli side Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

... "Four young people presumably from the Jewish community were rounded on by a group of supporters of PSG. They decided to separate, and one of them Yanniv Hazout was chased by attackers ... The mob grew to some 100 people," said state prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin.

"[Officer Granomort] told Monsieur Hazout to stand behind him and then tried to keep the crowd away using his tear-gas canister. The crowd hurled insults — dirty Jew, dirty nigger — and monkey cries and raised Nazi salutes. Some shouted 'Le Pen for president'," he said.

... A hard core of PSG supporters — dubbed the Boulogne Kop** — is known for its far-right allegiance, and several have been banned from the club's matches. Thursday night's violence followed a humiliating 4-2 defeat for the French side.

PARC DES PRINCES: HOME TO HOOLS, ULTRAS, & RACISTS
"Off My Pitch, Monkeyboy!"

FRENCH FOOTBALL FAN'S DEATH SPARKS DEBATE

PARIS November 25, 2006 (Scotsman/Reuters) - "When football kills", screamed the headline in white letters on the totally black front page of French sports daily L'Equipe on Saturday.

... "We all have the same goal, which is to eradicate hooliganism, racism and violence from soccer for good," said French Professional Football League (LFP) president Frederic Thiriez. ... Observers, however, pointed out that PSG had been tainted by hooliganism for years and had failed to tackle the issue.

"The death of a PSG supporter...tragically is a reminder that French football has failed to eradicate violence and racism from the stands of some of its clubs, which is unforgivable," wrote L'Equipe.

ANTI-SEMITISM BLAMED FOR FAN'S DEATH
November 26, 2006 (JPost/AP)

CHIRAC CONDEMNS RACIAL VIOLENCE AT SOCCER GAMES

PARIS November 26, 2006 (Taipei Times/AP) - French President Jacques Chirac on Friday led the condemnation of the violence that resulted in a shooting death after 100 Paris Saint-Germain fans attacked a supporter of an Israeli club on the previous day.

... Chirac condemned the racist remarks as "shameful." They "inspire a feeling not only of condemnation, not only of stupefaction -- but also of horror," Chirac said at a summit meeting in Italy.

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe said he would contact the capital's police chief and PSG president to discuss new measures.

"The seriousness of this event confirms the absolute necessity of fighting racism and anti-Semitism among PSG fans," Delanoe said in a statement. "I want to make sure that Paris' image and values are respected under every circumstance -- there is no room for the slightest form of intolerance."

... The incident "shames soccer, shames PSG and shames Paris," [Paris lawmaker (UMP) Claude Goasguen] said.

... While Britain has had considerable success in eradicating racially based violence, tougher punishments for hooligans have failed to solve the problem in France, despite repeated vows by Sarkozy and other politicians. ... Overt racism has become increasingly common at PSG's Parc de Princes stadium, with insults and monkey chants often directed at black players. Hooligan gangs also often look to fight black and Arab members of multiethnic rival gangs at the stadium during games.

And yet we have it on the authority of our Franchouille correspondents that anti-Semitism, racism, alienation, hatred, injustice -- all these have been banished from the magic Republic. And were a teensy-weensy bit of anti-Semitism or racism or alienation or hatred or injustice to abide in France, well, mes amis, these things are hardly worth a mention, being so much worse elsewhere.

* A thumbnail history of the Paris Saint-Germain club:

In 1970, Paris finally acquired an ambitious football club: Paris St Germain. Short of fans, in 1979 it began offering the under-16s ten matches for ten francs, a scheme that eventually spawned the thuggish Boulogne Kop, still with us today. In 1991, the television channel Canal Plus decided to stimulate French interest in football by buying and improving PSG. The city's mayor, at that time Jacques Chirac, came up with subsidies. In short, Paris's sole top-division club – where London and Moscow have half a dozen each – is a recent concoction of businessmen and politicians. Today you can live in Paris ignorant of PSG's existence. Even in the stadium the shaven-headed white fans at one end and the multicolored ones at the other mostly chant abuse at each other while ignoring the football.

** The name Kop of Boulogne, according to the Wikipédia francophone, is modeled on the stand reserved for Liverpool football club fans at Anfield Stadium, the "Spion Kop". Spion Kop, in turn, is named for the Battle of Spion Kop (Spioenkop) fought in the Second Boer War. An odd choice as it was a banjaxed mission.

PFFT (What is this?): Tout va très bien 4 | Rayonnement français 0

A brave cop indeed, unlike some (haven't we've seen that before? "tout va trés bien", as you say) ... Damian is quick to jump on the story but you obviously have no idea that racism in football is much more flagrant in the UK and Spain and no, it hasn't been "eradicated" in the UK, are you kidding?

And were a teensy-weensy bit of anti-Semitism or racism or alienation or hatred or injustice to abide in France, well, mes amis, these things are hardly worth a mention, being so much worse elsewhere.

And sure enough, M. Zmx makes an entry on cue to inform all that -- the above story nowithstanding -- racism is far worse someplace other than France. Two places by his reckoning. However he apparently rates France's football racists above the racist yobs of Italy.

And we say, "Tout va très bien", not "tout va trés bien".

DGB