Seven football fans were arrested by French police for making Nazi salutes during the Nations League match between France and Croatia at the Stade de France on Sunday, according to the Paris police chief.
A police source revealed that about 10 Croatian supporters displayed Nazi salutes during the playing of their national anthem before the match, with several repeating the gesture during the first half of the game, which France won 2-0.
"The security measures implemented by the police headquarters, under my authority, ensured the safety of fans and players and led to the arrest of seven individuals who made Nazi salutes during the match," Laurent Nunez wrote on X on Monday.
"Sport is and must remain a celebration. These individuals have no place in a sports venue," he added.
French police confiscated "iron bars, telescopic batons, sharp wooden sticks, and smoke bombs" from some of the 400 Croatian fans who attended the game, a police source said.
Croatia's ultra-nationalist hardcore supporters have tainted the national team's image for years, notably by chanting pro-fascist slogans and displaying symbols of the country's pro-Nazi Ustasha regime that killed and persecuted hundreds of thousands of ethnic Serbs, Jews, Roma, and anti-fascist Croatians.
