Paris, Lyon, Marseille. The streets are not just wet with rain tonight. They are slick with the blood of a broken night. Hundreds arrested. Police officers injured. The Champions League has turned into a battlefield.
I have been watching the footage from my office. It is ugly. It is chaotic. And it is a political disaster waiting to happen. The interior minister will be fielding calls from the Elysée before the last baton is swung.
Here is what we know. Groups of fans, some say organized, clashed with police in multiple cities. Cars overturned. Shop windows smashed. The sound of tear gas and shouting is the soundtrack to this European dream gone wrong.
But the game within the game is this: Who takes the blame? The government cannot admit it lost control. The police unions will say they were undermanned. The clubs will point at the fans. The real story is the failure of intelligence. Someone in the security services missed the signal. They always do.
I have been speaking to my sources in the Interior Ministry. They are nervous. They talk about 'unprecedented violence' and 'coordinated attacks'. But they also talk about budget cuts and low morale. The same old tune.
And what of the fans? Some are innocent, caught in the crush. Others came looking for trouble. The hardcore ultras, the casuals, the ones who see a football match as a chance to fight. France has a problem with its football culture. It has been simmering for years. Tonight it boiled over.
The opposition will be sharpening their knives. The far right will use this to attack the government's law and order record. The far left will blame capitalist excess or police brutality. Everyone will spin. That is what they do.
But for now, the streets are empty. The ambulances have gone. The clean-up begins. The political fallout will last longer than the bruises.
One thing is certain. This will change the conversation. The government wanted to talk about pension reform or climate change. Now they will talk about this. The Champions League riots will dominate the front pages, the news bulletins, the pubs. And in Westminster, we will watch and wonder: Could it happen here? The answer is always yes.
