Fearing possible riots, France mobilizes 10,000 police ahead of semifinal against Morocco

PARIS (AA) - Fearing possible riots after Wednesday’s France versus Morocco semifinal match at the World Cup in Qatar, France plans to mobilize 10,000 police officers, including 5,000 of them for Paris and the surrounding area alone.

In Paris, police are to be deployed in particular around the famed boulevard Champs-Elysees, as Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced before the National Assembly.

The famous Paris street previously saw violent incidents on Dec. 10 after the quarterfinal victories of Morocco and France.

Nevertheless, the Champs-Elysees is not to be closed on Wednesday.

Instead, most of the entrance gates to the Paris ring road are to be closed from 6:30 p.m. in the evening, as are several metro and RER light rail stations.

Another threat is posed by radical right-wing hooligans, as reported by radio station Europe 1. On social media, radical groups are said to have spoken out in favor of a "civil confrontation between the two nations."

In the city of Strasbourg, for example, according to information from Europe 1, several dozen members of the "Strasbourg Offenders," a hooligan group made up of neo-Nazis, Identitarians and ultra-nationalists, are said to have planned to take to the streets of the city center after the game to "patrol" and "restore order."

The match is being seen in some circles as a proxy faceoff between Colonialist France and its former colonies in North Africa.