France and Israel soccer teams face off with heightened security after Amsterdam violence
PARIS — Israel and France squared off in a soccer match at Paris' Stade de France Thursday night as hundreds of protesters gathered nearby amid heightened tensions in Europe over Israel’s deadly assault on the
Gaza Strip
and
Lebanon
.
Thousands of police officers were deployed across Paris, seeking to avoid a repeat of last week’s
violence in Amsterdam
involving locals and Israeli fans.
In the stadium, just a trickle of soccer fans turned out for the match, which ended in a 0-0 draw after 90 minutes, and some in the crowd appeared to whistle over the Israeli national anthem in an apparent bid to drown out the sound.
Soccer fans filed into Stade de France amid a heavy police presence. The process was orderly, though some expressed nervousness.
Theo Petit, 23...