"Several of us have had our breasts grabbed" : Parisian supporters denounce abusive pat-downs during Barça-PSG
Abusive pat-downs are what Anoush Morel, president of the Her Game Too association and business manager, denounced on Wednesday April 17 to franceinfo. She says she suffered them during the quarter-final return between Barça and PSG in the Football Champions League, in Barcelona on Tuesday.
“It went beyond palpation, several of us supporters had our breasts grabbed, our hands were passed over our genitals, from our buttocks to our genitals in front, and we had to turn around to get again the same thing in the other direction”, explains Anoush Morel. She has a subscription to the Parc des Princes, “always a PSG supporter”and says he has “the habit of searches and palpations”. “I don’t think in the UEFA protocol they say you have to grab women’s breasts and touch their genitals”she quips.
She claims to have encountered “between 15 and 20 supporters” who underwent the same type of search. “We felt shocked”she laments. “There is a supporter who was searched by a man”she adds, while UEFA stipulates that “searches must be carried out by security personnel of the same sex as the spectator concerned”. “I felt betrayed by this steward, I had difficulty getting into the match at the start […] I was stunned, very angry, and then I got into the match.”she confides.
Anoush Morel does not plan to file a complaint immediately. “We are going to collect as many testimonies as possible. We left the stadium yesterday around midnight. By the time everyone comes to their senses, we hope that people will continue to testify until the end of the week”says the supporter.
