French World Cup celebrations turn rowdy
Celebrations of France's World Cup semi-final win against Belgium on Tuesday turned rowdy with more than two dozen football fans hurt in a stampede in Nice.
The stampede took place when revellers let off firecrackers moments before the final whistle of France's World Cup semi-final win, a local official said. The incident underscored how the city on the French Riviera remains on edge two years after an Islamist militant drove a refrigerator truck through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day, killing 86 people.
"There was a crowd surge after firecrackers were detonated," Jean-Gabriel Delacroix from the city prefecture said, saying that 27 people were injured. "Most of the injuries are glass cuts and bruising picked up when people fell."
Local media ran images of shaken onlookers standing around overturned tables and chairs, the ground littered with broken glass.In Paris, fans on the Champs Elysees threw street furniture at police who fired teargas to clear the avenue.
Plastic traffic barriers, metal railings and even a sofa were placed in the middle of the street after thousands massed near the Arc de Triomphe monument to celebrate the French victory. France will now play either England or Croatia in the competition's final on Sunday.
