The French interior minister has blamed fraud at an industrial level for the chaos at the final of the European soccer tournament in Paris.
The game at the French national stadium was delayed for 36 minutes after police tried to prevent people without tickets from entering.
French interior minister Gerald Darmanin said that thousands of fake tickets had caused chaos as fans tried to enter the stadium.
At the time the match was supposed to start, 97 percent of the Spanish supporters were present, but only 50 percent of the British supporters got into their section.
70% of the tickets were fake and there was massive fraud to an industrial level.
More than 2,600 tickets were non-validated even though they had gone through the first filters, as 15 per cent of them were fake.
There were delays because of the massive presence of fake tickets. More than half of the 29 arrests that took place within the Stade de France were British supporters because they intruded inside.
French sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said 30,000 to 40,000 people were without tickets or fake ones and that everyone wants to make sure this doesn't happen again.
She apologized to the people who were deprived of a match because their Saturday night experience was completely spoiled. We have asked that those people be identified so that they can be compensated.
The central point is to understand precisely what happened during this massive fraud. There are witnesses and figures that show that tens of thousands of people without tickets or with fake tickets. The fake tickets looked like normal tickets, which meant some controls didn't notice.
We want to have a detailed, in-depth inquiry with UEFA to see what happened. We are waiting for the rapid setting off of the enquiry after we have heard our request.
The fans who turned up without valid tickets were blamed by Oudea-Castera.
The mass gathering of the British supporters of the club, without tickets, or with fake tickets, was the first thing that happened, according to Oudea-Castera.
Thousands of fans with fake tickets caused delays, while UK Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries called for a formal investigation.
Sky Sports News chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol was one of the people targeted with tear gas.
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The French explanation doesn't tally with what I saw. What happened in Paris this morning? We had a meeting with the French sports minister, the French interior minister, and the Paris police chief. The police chief was asked what happened at the meeting this morning. France is embarrassed by this. It was a mess. There are terrible headlines around the world. The Rugby World Cup will be hosted next year. The Olympics will be held in 2024. I think he has passed the blame for the fake tickets on to the fans, because he was asked to explain what went wrong.
I am sure there were fake tickets. There are always fake tickets for big finals, but I didn't see anything that looked like an industrial fraud operation. I did not have fans of the other team come up to me and tell me they were upset that they bought fake tickets. They were complaining that they were being tear-gassed, pepper-sprayed and crushed. The French police were treating them like animals.
What I saw was a total mess and the blame was all on the French authorities, the stadium authorities and the French police. We were in a situation where 20,000 people showed up at the stadium early and were asked to wait in a confined space and there was only one person who could get through.
There were no Real Madrid supporters at this meeting. I did not see a single fake ticket. I would be very careful with what was said at the press conference. I was sold a fake ticket, not a single supporter came up to me. I have wasted thousands of dollars on this. Some of the supporters were very upset because they were being treated badly by the French police. That is what I saw. Women and children were tear-gassed.
There were a lot of problems at the Real Madrid end as well as the Real Madrid supporters I spoke to. I am aware that you are asking why there were only problems at the Real Madrid end while there were only problems at theLiverpool end. That wasn't the case. The Real Madrid end of the ground was where I was pepper- sprayed.
There were major problems at the Real Madrid end of the ground. Many local French youths got into the Real Madrid end of the ground. Many Real Madrid supporters were mugged and attacked after the game as well, so it was not all happy at the Real Madrid end of the ground.
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Chris Philp said there was no obvious justification for the behavior shown by French police in Paris.
Philp said that he was horrified to see the pictures of fans being pepper-sprayed by French police.
There was no obvious justification for that kind of behavior. Nadine is right to call for Uefa to investigate exactly what happened because we don't want to see children and disabled fans being pepper-sprayed by police in the way that we saw.
I am concerned by it, the government are as well, and we need Uefa to properly investigate exactly what happened and get to the bottom of it.
Mr Philp said we need to get this properly looked into so we understand what happened. I saw footage of fans getting pepper-sprayed, and that makes me think that those pictures are not appropriate.
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Ian Byrne, a Labour Member of Parliament who attended the game, told Sky News that it was easy to blame the fans.
We are back in 1989 where the lies and accusations about Hillsborough went out quickly and the narrative was set.
I was appalled when I saw the signs that said it was due to late fans.
There were people who had been there three-and-a-half hours who were pepper- sprayed, tear-gassed and kettled.
We have all seen the footage, the photographs and the British journalists have covered it well.
The French authorities need to hang their heads in shame about what happened on Saturday night.
Before the statement was released, the club had called for a formal investigation to look into what happened outside the stadium.
The club said that they were hugely disappointed at the stadium entry issues and breakdown of the security perimeter that the fans faced.
We have officially requested a formal investigation into the causes of these issues.
The scenes outside the Stade de France were "deeply concerning" as she joined the club's calls for an investigation.
She said in a statement that it was in the interests of everyone involved to understand what happened.
In the lead-up to the game, thousands of fans who had purchased fake tickets were prevented from entering the stadium.
The fans were trying to get in. As a result, the kick-off was delayed by 35 minutes to allow as many fans as possible with genuine tickets.
The police dispersed the crowd with tear gas and forced them away from the stadium.
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UEFA is sympathetic to those affected by these events and will review these matters with the French police and the French Football Federation.
Stadium authorities initially blamed a delayed kick-off on fans arriving late.
Sky Sports journalists and reporters in Paris disagreed with that version of events.
The entire policing operation before this game was not effective.
An announcement posted on the big screens inside the Stade de France initially blamed fans for the kick-off delay, with the message reading: "due to the late arrival of fans at the stadium, the match has been delayed."
Supporters have been waiting for over two hours outside. There are many witness accounts of how this evening has unfolded.
Reports from those stuck outside the stadium, poor organisation and communication, dangerously narrow routes with police vans blocking space, as well as footage feeding through, were already being reported almost 40 minutes before the scheduled kick-off time. All of it is making a situation uncomfortable.
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Kelly Cates, a Sky Sports presenter, attended the final as a supporter. No way of knowing which way to go. If you are heading in, stay safe. It has the potential to be very dangerous.
Gary Lineker is not sure it is possible to have a more poorly organised event. Absolutely shambolic and dangerous.
Some fans were filmed scaling the outside perimeter of the stadium to get to the game.
There were sporadic instances of fans without tickets trying to get into the stadium.
Two fans were wrestled to the ground by stewards and bundled out of the gates, as reported by the agency. A fan ran through the concourse and into the bottom level of the stadium after evading stewards.
The police will pass on their observations from the chaos in the final.
The vast majority of fans behaved in an exemplary manner when they were deployed in France to work with local officers.
The officers returning today will conduct a formal debrief to make sure they can support any investigation after the game.
We wish everyone returning home from Paris a safe journey after seeing a lot of distressing scenes last night. Our focus today is to support the police of the parade.
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