Some 10,000 police were mobilised across France to ensure the match and its aftermath went off peacefully, given the potential of a tension between French supporters and those backing France’s one time North African colony.
But overall the celebrations passed off peacefully as supporters thronged the end of the avenue leading up to the Arc de Triomphe in impassioned but largely good-natured scenes with Moroccan supporters accepting defeat, AFP correspondents said.
“We are in the final. We are in the final,” hundreds of French supporters chanted as drivers sounded horns and anti-riot police lurked in vans lining the area.
“What pleasure it will be to play Argentina in the final,” said Sylvain Badin, 24, clutching a French flag. “I came to share a moment of joy,” he added.
Dozens of Moroccan fans had also made themselves heard during the match in the area, swathing themselves in the national flag and following the match on their phones.
“We lost but it’s only football and we made history by making the semi-finals. We are proud of our country and happy for France,” said Kamal Seddiki, a Moroccan student, 22.
‘We’re brothers’
A group of about 40 people aligned with far-right groups were arrested for carrying prohibited weapons before they could get to the Champs-Elysees, a police source said.
“They clearly wanted to fight on the Champs,” the source said.
By 1am, Paris police reported 115 arrests, including in Créteil were a small group of youths had started a fire in a building by setting off fireworks. One police officer was injured.
In the southern French city of Montpellier, tragedy struck when a 14-year-old boy was killed by a “hit-and-run driver” who fled the scene, local authorities said in a statement.
French MP Nathalie Oziol expressed “immense sadness (that) a sporting event ends in absolute tragedy”.
“I offer my condolences to the family,” she said in a tweet.
In the southern city of Nice, trash cans were set on fire after the game where thousands had gathered in the centre of the city, an AFP photographer said, and local media reported men in balaclavas shouting racist abuse at Morroco fans.
In Lyon, police also used tear gas when supporters began to let off firecrackers in the central Place Bellecour.
The Lyon prefecture reported a total of seven arrests, including two from far-right groups.
Nearby Annecy saw projectiles thrown at police, and a man was taken to the hospital after he was injured in a brawl.
And in the historic city of Avignon, there were 14 arrests — eight for firing mortars, according to a police report sent to AFP.
The relationship France has with Morocco is not nearly as traumatic as with neighbouring Algeria, which fought Paris in a bloody seven-year War of Independence that scars both nations to this day.
But as in any post-colonial relationship, Morocco, which won independence in 1956, has its grievances with France, most notably over the question of visas.
Over a million Moroccans are believed to live in France and security forces had been on alert for any clashes like those in Brussels that marked Morocco’s shock win over Belgium in the group stages.
“We are happy for France,” said Hossam Boutalah, 20, a Moroccan flag on his back in the southwestern city of Bordeaux where the central square was packed for the match.
“We are brothers after all, we are together. It is our second country. Morocco played well and would have deserved to score a goal,” he said
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