Supporters erupt around Champs-Elysees after team\u2019s triumph over Morocco
\n PARIS
\nWaving tricolour flags and setting off flares, French supporters erupted in jubilation around the iconic Champs-Elysees avenue after France\u2019s triumph over Morocco on Wednesday, which has put Les Bleus into the World Cup final.
\nThe celebrations were mostly peaceful around Paris, but there were some signs of unrest in other parts of the country, including a fatal post-match hit-and-run incident in the southern city of Montpellier.
\nAbout 10,000 police were mobilised across France, as authorities fretted over potential clashes between French supporters and those backing its one-time North African colony.
\nAs football lovers in Paris thronged to the end of the avenue leading to the Arc de Triomphe, the mood was impassioned but largely good-natured, with Moroccan supporters accepting defeat.
\n\u201cWe are in the final. We are in the final,\u201d hundreds of French supporters chanted as drivers sounded horns and anti-riot police lurked in vans lining the area.
\nA French anti-riot police van even used one of its sirens to mark the moment when Kolo Muani scored the goal to give France a 2-0 lead.
\n\u201cWhat pleasure it will be to play Argentina in the final,\u201d said Sylvain Badin, 24, clutching a French flag. \u201cI came to share a moment of joy.\u201d
\nDozens of Moroccan fans also made themselves heard during the match in the area, swathing themselves in national flags as they followed the match on their phones.
\n\u201cWe lost but it\u2019s only football and we made history by making the semi-finals. We are proud of our country and happy for France,\u201d said Kamal Seddiki, a 22-year-old Moroccan student.
\nSome fans setting off fireworks around the Arc de Triomphe were dispersed by police.
\nAnd a group of about 40 people aligned with far-right groups were arrested for carrying prohibited weapons before they could get to the Champs-Elysees, a police source said.
\n\u201cThey clearly wanted to fight on the Champs,\u201d the source said.
\nIn total more than 100 arrests took place around the Paris area before 1:00 am on Thursday, the police said.
\nIn the southern French city of Montpellier, tragedy struck after the game Wednesday night when a 14-year-old boy was killed by a \u201chit-and-run driver\u201d who fled the scene, local authorities said in a statement.
\nFrench MP Nathalie Oziol expressed \u201cimmense sadness (that) a sporting event ends in absolute drama\u201d.
\n\u201cI offer my condolences to the family,\u201d she said in a tweet.
\nIn Nice, trash cans were set on fire after the game in the centre of the city where thousands had gathered, an AFP photographer said.
\nIn France\u2019s third-largest city Lyon, a concerto of horns also erupted after the match, but the scene of jubilation became tense when \u201ca group of far-right youths approached fans\u201d, said Lyon prefecture official.
\n\u201cThere was a brawl and the police quickly intervened to push the group back,\u201d the local source said.
\nPolice also used tear gas when supporters began to let off firecrackers in the central Place Bellecour.
\nThe Lyon prefecture reported a total of seven arrests, including two from far-right groups.
\nNearby Annecy saw projectiles thrown at police, and a man was taken to the hospital after he was injured in a brawl.
\nAnd in the historic city of Avignon, there were 14 arrests — eight for firing mortars, according to a police report sent to AFP.
\nFrance\u2019s relationship with Morocco may not be as fraught as with Algeria, another former colony that fought a bloody seven-year War of Independence that scars both nations to this day.
\nBut as in any post-colonial relationship, Morocco, which won independence in 1956, has its grievances with France, most notably over the question of visas.
\nMore than a million Moroccans are believed to live in France and security forces had been on alert for any clashes like those in Brussels that marked Morocco\u2019s shock win over Belgium in the group stages.
\nBut 20-year-old Hossam Boutalah in the southwestern city of Bordeaux said he was \u201chappy for France\u201d.
\nThe student donned a Moroccan flag on his back during the post-match celebrations in the port city\u2019s central square.
\n\u201cWe are brothers after all, we are together. It is our second country,\u201d Boutalah said.
\nThough \u201cMorocco played well and would have deserved to score a goal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Supporters erupt around Champs-Elysees after team\u2019s triumph over Morocco PARIS Waving tricolour flags and setting off flares, French supporters erupted in jubilation around the iconic Champs-Elysees avenue after France\u2019s triumph over Morocco on Wednesday, which has put Les Bleus into the World Cup final. The celebrations were mostly peaceful around Paris, but there were some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301568,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-301547","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n