31, May 2022
Champions League: Liverpool accuse French authorities of ‘deflecting responsibility’ for final chaos 0
Liverpool chief executive Billy Hogan has accused the French authorities of trying to “deflect responsibility” for the chaotic scenes that marred the Champions League final in Paris.
UEFA have announced an independent review into scenes outside the Stade de France on Saturday that saw supporters funnelled into overcrowded corridors and hit with tear gas and pepper spray from police.
Kick-off to the match, which Real Madrid won 1-0, was delayed by 36 minutes to allow supporters extra time to access the stadium.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin blamed the chaos on “industrial-scale” fraud of 30,000 to 40,000 fake tickets.
However, that account has been strongly rejected by Liverpool fans who have pointed to a series of organisational failings around the stadium and the heavy-handed response from police.
Liverpool chairman Tom Werner has demanded an apology from French sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera.
Oudea-Castera initially blamed Liverpool for helping to cause the mayhem, telling a French radio station that the club failed to properly organise its supporters who went to Paris.
“We just feel that everyone should be focused on getting the investigation right and less about making inflammatory comments that attempt to deflect responsibility for what happened on Saturday night,” Hogan told the Liverpool website.
“We should know all the facts to make sure that the scenes that we’ve all seen – absolutely disgraceful – from Saturday don’t ever happen again.”
Family members and friends of the Liverpool squad were caught up in the scenes outside the stadium.
Left-back Andy Robertson said a friend he had given a club ticket to was denied entry and accused of carrying a fake ticket.
The wife of Thiago Alcantara, Julia Vigas, posted on Instagram: “Due to a lack of organisation and security, there were so many scary moments.”
Vigas added: “Something has to be done, these kind of things cannot happen in any kind of event and we ask for responsibility. It could have been much worse.”
UEFA initially blamed the late arrival of fans for the problems before later issuing a statement referring to fake tickets as the cause.
“To say our fans didn’t turn up on time is crazy,” added Hogan.
“My colleagues across the club, our ownership and I, we all saw it with our own eyes. We were outside the ground, on the ground, in those crowds and from everything I saw, our fans arrived early and they were queueing as directed by authorities.”
Liverpool have begun compiling their own evidence with supporters and other people present invited to report their experiences via a feedback form on their website.
Fans have compared the dangerous scenes outside the stadium to the Hillsborough disaster in which 97 Liverpool fans were killed in a crush in 1989.
UEFA said their own independent review, led by Portugal’s Dr Tiago Brandao Rodrigues “will examine decision making, responsibility and behaviours of all entities involved in the final.”
Source: AFP
31, May 2022
Canada proposes legislation for total ‘freeze’ on handgun ownership 0
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday a proposed freeze on handgun ownership in Canada that would effectively ban their importation and sale, following recent mass shootings in the United States.
The bill must still be passed by Parliament, with the ruling Liberals holding only a minority of seats.
“We’re introducing legislation to implement a national freeze on handgun ownership,” Trudeau told a news conference, joined by dozens of families and friends of victims of gun violence.
“What this means is that it will no longer be possible to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns anywhere in Canada,” he said. “In other words, we’re capping the market for handguns.”
Days after Canada’s worst mass shooting left 23 dead in rural Nova Scotia in April 2020, the government banned 1,500 types of military-grade or assault-style firearms.
But Trudeau acknowledged Monday that gun violence continues to rise.
The government statistical agency reported last week that firearms-related violent crimes account for less than three percent of all violent crimes in Canada.
But since 2009 the per capita rate of guns being pointed at someone has nearly tripled, while the rate at which a gun was fired with an intent to kill or wound is up five-fold.
Almost two-thirds of gun crimes in urban areas involved handguns.
Police often point to smuggling from the United States — which is reeling from recent shootings at a school in Texas and at a supermarket in New York state — as the main source of handguns.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino estimated there are about one million handguns in this country — up significantly from a decade ago.
Trudeau commented, “People should be free to go to the supermarket, their school or their place of worship without fear. People should be free to go to the park or to a birthday party without worrying about what might happen from a stray bullet.
“Gun violence is a complex problem,” he said. “But at the end of the day, the math is really quite simple: the fewer the guns in our communities, the safer everyone will be.”
The proposed law would also strip anyone involved in domestic violence or stalking of their firearms license, and take away guns from those deemed to be a risk to themselves or others, as well as strengthen border security and criminal penalties for gun trafficking.
It would also ban long-gun magazines capable of holding more than five bullets.
Source: AFP