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Nice ultras blamed by French police after Rangers blast over security for Europa League clash
Nice Police authorities have put the blame on the supporters of the French club for causing trouble during Rangers' Europa League triumph on Thursday night.
The raging Ibrox side released a scathing club statement and said they were 'deeply concerned' with how their fanbase were treated on the European away day - slamming a 'draconian security operation' and 'heavy-handed' policing. The Light Blues stated that they had previously engaged with the French police and authorities for a number of weeks due to the 'match having potential to be problematic based on the experience of other visiting clubs'
And now, the local police force for Nice have blamed the ultras of the Ligue 1 outfit for trying to get at the Rangers support at the stadium. Benoit Huber, chief of staff of the Alpes-Maritimes region, said: "The evening was very difficult.
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"There was a large-scale police force of 260 officers who were mobilised and attempted to repel the assaults of 100 to 200 Nice Ultras who left the popular south stand to try and confront the Scottish fans in the Ray and Garibaldi stands. Tear gas was deployed and nine fans were injured.
"UEFA must sanction the club for the behaviour of its supporters. People come to a stadium to watch a match, not to fight. In this case, it was clearly the people from Nice who went into contact to fight. And it was the 260 police officers who had been mobilised who stopped them. We are going to try to identify as many of the protagonists as possible so that they can be punished administratively, with stadium bans, or even through the courts."
A hard-hitting Rangers club statement read: "Rangers FC is deeply concerned over several unacceptable incidents in Nice last night where our supporters’ safety was jeopardised.
"For some weeks now, the club has engaged with UEFA, Football Supporters’ Europe (FSE) and the local French authorities, with intelligence suggesting this match had potential to be problematic based on the experiences of other visiting clubs.
"Despite that significant work, our supporters were badly let down by the draconian security operation imposed by the local authorities being poorly organised and executed. This operation was changed on several occasions with no prior warning given to Rangers staff on the ground. Much of the communication provided to Rangers in advance also proved to be incorrect, with items such as power banks taken for storage during the match.
"The heavy-handed tactics used by the local police force were also unwarranted and caused serious distress for many of our supporters. The club remains in dialogue with UEFA and FSE, and is inviting supporters affected by events last night to contact SLO@rangers.co.uk with details, images and video footage.
"The club want to put on record our thanks to our supporters for their backing last night, and for their patience as these issues were dealt with."
