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SPORT

French police hold PSG supporters ‘looking for scrap’ with Newcastle fans

French police are holding in custody six supporters of Paris Saint-Germain, prosecutors said, suspecting them of "looking for a scrap" with fans of Newcastle ahead of Tuesday's Champions League clash.

French police hold PSG supporters 'looking for scrap' with Newcastle fans
A police vehicle in Lorient, western France. (Photo by LOIC VENANCE / AFP)

“Six people were arrested among several dozen, wearing black and with their faces masked, who were heading towards a bar where there were English fans,” Paris prosecutors said.

A police source said four of the people arrested were in the French state’s “S file” of people believed to pose a national security threat, adding they appeared to be “looking for a scrap” with the Newcastle crowd.

Prosecutors said the grounds for holding those arrested were “participation in a group formed with an aim to commit violence or destroy or damage property,” adding that “investigations are ongoing”.

France has been on alert for public violence in recent weeks, after the deadly stabbing of a teacher in northern city Arras by a former pupil last month and another knife killing of a 16-year-old in southeastern France last week.

Violent gatherings organised by the far right over the weekend were broken up by police.

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CRIME

Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

French prosecutors have charged a 19-year-old man and a youth in the Paris region with planning a "terrorist" attack on Jewish targets, a judicial source told AFP on Friday.

Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

While no details on the pair have been released, French anti-terrorist investigators have expressed increased concern over the young age of some suspects detained in recent months for planning militant attacks.

The 19-year-old has been charged with “terrorist conspiracy” to commit attacks and the “acquisition and possession of arms for a terrorist enterprise,” said the judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

READ ALSO: Anti-Semitism fears stalk Jewish voters’ choice in France

The youth aged under 18 was detained on June 13, the source said.

The pair made contact on social media and were planning a “a violent action notably aiming at Jewish targets,” said the source without giving details on the plot.

Anti-terrorism investigators say a growing number of youths have been held in recent months for preparing attacks.

READ ALSO: French election breakdown: TV debates, polling latest and anti-Semitism

“This is a necessarily worrying phenomenon,” senior anti-terrorist prosecutor Olivier Christen said at an evidentiary hearing on Wednesday.

French politicians have also condemned a growing number of attacks on the country’s Jewish community, the biggest outside Israel and the United States.

Outrage has been expressed over the rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a park in the Paris suburbs last Saturday. Two 13-year-old boys have been charged with rape and making anti-Semitic insults.

Several protest rallies have been held in Paris and other French cities over the case which comes as France prepares for a national election in which the far-right National Rally party is tipped to make major gains. 

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