Thursday, February 20, 2025
HomeFootball“Rat hunt” smear poster and more: In Nice, the judiciary is investigating

“Rat hunt” smear poster and more: In Nice, the judiciary is investigating

Nice won the duel against Marseille on Sunday and thus moved up to fourth place in the table. However, the joy is now clouded by judicial investigations.

Evann Guessand (23) and Mohamed-Ali Cho (21) led OGC Nice to a 2-0 victory in the southern French duel against Olympique Marseille. For Nice, this not only meant their first victory after two defeats in a row, but they also jumped to fourth place in the table. For the southerners, everything went smoothly, but not quite, because now the justice system is investigating them for inciting hatred and violence.

The reason: on a huge banner of Nice fans was written “The sun sets over the city of Nice… Let the rat hunt begin!” – and according to L’Equipe, this was done with the club’s knowledge, because OGC is said to have known about the poster before the game. However, the club was unable to dissuade the fans from unfurling the banner.

Police interrogations

Now the justice system has stepped in – and not just because of the banner. It is also about homophobic and sexist chants and another banner that was held up for striker Neal Maupay, who moved from Nice to Marseille, and clearly insulted him by vilifying his mother in the most abusive terms.

As reported by the newspaper Nice-Matin, there were a number of police interrogations on Wednesday, but no one was taken into custody. The disciplinary committee of the league association also wants to look into the events.

Unacceptable racist slogans

And politicians have also already spoken out. Marseille’s mayor Benoit Payan, for example, condemned “unacceptable racist slogans that have no place in a stadium,” while France’s sports minister Marie Barsacq said, “In football stadiums, as elsewhere, I would like to remind people that homophobic, discriminatory and racist chants and actions are criminal offenses.”

For three years, the atmosphere surrounding this pairing has been extremely heated. In August 2021, a game was abandoned after violent turmoil when Marseille midfielder Dimitri Payet was hit by a projectile and went down. He and other players then threw bottles at Nice fans from the field of play, ultimately causing a pitch invasion and violent clashes.

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