PSG imposes ban on fans from travelling to away games

(GSM) – Paris Saint-Germain has decided to make tickets unavailable to its fans for the club’s away games until further notice, said the club president said on Tuesday.

This follows after a PSG fan was injured in a fight between rival factions of hooligans from the club before the 3-0 home loss to Olympique Marseille last weekend.

The 38-year-old fan sustained a serious head injury and was in a critical condition, leading to a strict response from the Parisian club’s management.

“Images of a man lying in his blood at the foot of the Parc des Princes run through my head these past two nights,” Robin Leproux told a press conference. “We reached a climax of violence … I take my share of responsibility.”

Leproux said he decided to bar supporters from travelling “to act responsibly and guarantee security for all.”

The Ligue 1 side’s fans’ offices will also be closed and the club won’t appeal if it is sentenced to play matches behind closed doors.

The clashes involved hooligans from the two main stands at PSG’s stadium Parc des Princes, the Tribune d’Auteuil and the Kop of Boulogne.

A 30-year-old man suspected of taking part in the beating was arrested just after the fight and has been held in detention.

Marseille fans had boycotted the game to protest against security measures imposed on visiting supporters.

French Sports minister Rama Yade will have a meeting with PSG officials in the coming days while Leproux will meet Paris’s police prefect on Wednesday.

Following several months of relative tranquility, Kop of Boulogne and Auteuil fans – angered by their team’s poor results and a mutual opposition to the club’s chief backer, Colony Capital – started fighting again at the end of last year and clashed violently at Lille in January.

Last August, a PSG fan lost an eye after being hit by a bottle of beer during clashes with Montpellier fans.

On Nov. 23, 2006, a member of a group called the Boulogne Boys was shot and killed by a police officer after a UEFA Cup match between PSG and Hapoel Tel Aviv.

The policeman was protecting a Jewish fan under attack from thugs shouting anti-Semitic epithets.