The police operation against PSG fans, from within: hooded figures, flares, and "Fucking Barça"

BarcelonaHe doesn't speak Catalan, but he can say "Fucking Barça." His name is Nolan, and he's been on a bus for 15 hours to get to Barcelona, ​​a city he loves for its "sun and beach," but he hates the club that bears his name: Barça. Why? He mainly mentions the 6-1 comeback, and also comments that he doesn't like it because of Messi and Neymar, even though it was his team, PSG, that ended up signing them. He's wearing a white T-shirt with the club logo and the Champions League trophy they won last year. He's one of a crowd of fans, around 3,000, who invaded the center of Barcelona this Wednesday afternoon. They're a white tide of French people, some of them hooded and tattooed everywhere. Why white if their colors are also blue and red? "Just to annoy people, we know Real Madrid makes you mad," Nolan replies.

The ARA was able to accompany the Mossos d'Esquadra unit that controlled the PSG fans and led them to the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium, where the match against Barça began at 9 p.m. Andreu González Escalera, chief inspector of the unit, explains that they have been in direct communication with PSG and the French police for several days. They know that, of the 3,000 fans who came, a thousand could be classified as radical. The club has asked them to all be at Plaça Espanya by 6 p.m., and they comply: the Mossos d'Esquadra brimo encapsulates them and leads them, little by little, toward the Magic Mountain. The fans shout, all the while, "Fucking Barça." At that moment, a man runs through the crowd of fans wearing a Real Madrid shirt: he's going to play sports. No one says anything to him.

Until the gathering in Plaça Espanya, the inspector explains that the day has been relatively peaceful. Parisians, accustomed to terraces, have occupied the ones on La Rambla and Plaça Reial. The Mossos d'Esquadra detected some ultras looking for a fight, but dispersed them. They followed them and saw them wandering around the city trying to find Barça fans. Intelligence work, the inspector explains, is just as important as public order on matchday: Mossos d'Esquadra's information specialists analyze social media to detect whether two radical groups from opposing teams have arranged to fight, a common dynamic. "It's a maximum deployment, similar to that for matches against Real Madrid or Espanyol," the inspector explains while his phone keeps ringing. He's in charge of the media for all Barça matches. He must control public order, but also the skies (they're requesting drones and a helicopter) and the underground.

No incidents

The ultimate goal is to prevent PSG fans from meeting Barça fans. Even from a distance, when this happens, verbal exchanges of "Fucking PSG" and "Fucking Barça" quickly escalate. So much so that at times the walk to Montjuïc feels as if it were the journey to the Parc des Princes, the Parisians' home stadium. The security detail includes a large delegation of club security guards, who ask any Barça fan to leave, or at least cover their Barça shirt with a jersey. Two French police officers accompany the Mossos d'Esquadra and help them identify radicals. They also get to know club employees and fans better, which facilitates constant dialogue, as if both sides empathize perfectly with the other's position. Nolan admits that he didn't expect so many police officers. There are Brimo everywhere. The police comment that, even if the fans wanted to, the police force is so large that it would be difficult for any disturbances to break out. They have so many fans counted that, before starting, the police comment among themselves that there are 30 left and they have to wait. hooligans They don't want to talk, although they stick to the photographs; only a few put on their hoods.

However, the walk to Montjuïc passes peacefully. The PSG fans have known the club's security guards for a long time and greet each other affectionately. They have a special greeting: a handshake and two pats on the head, as if they were two kisses. Chants, flares, firecrackers, but no altercations. They repeat the "Fucking Barça" chants as they pass in front of Poble Espanyol, thinking they have finally arrived at the stadium, and ask a boy and a girl, who have a date on a bench overlooking Barcelona, ​​​​to kiss. They refuse; it's still too early. The chants are accompanied by pot-banging—when fans at a Ska concert deliberately separate and bump into each other while dancing—which causes one fan to twist his ankle and have to enter the stadium in the arms of two other fans.

Entering the stadium is one of the most critical moments. Barça fans wait in front of other closed gates to be let in, but PSG fans must first access their own gate. Insults and whistles are interspersed with some throwing of weapons. Meanwhile, the action takes place on the other side of the stadium: as the PSG players' bus drove past, Barça fans threw glass at the vehicle, prompting the Mossos d'Esquadra to charge at them.