PSG fan dies after attack by rival supporters

Posted Thursday, March 18, 2010 by AP

PARIS (AP)—A Paris Saint-Germain football fan has died after spending weeks in a coma following an attack by rival PSG supporters.

The 38-year-old fan suffered serious head injuries during street clashes among PSG fan groups at a Feb. 28 French league match against Marseille.

A Paris police official said Thursday the fan, who was not identified, died late Wednesday night in the Beaujon Hospital. The official was not authorized to be publicly named because of police rules.

Violence among rival fan groups has long plagued the Paris club.

“The club’s survival is at stake,” France’s sports minister Rama Yade said in a statement after the fan’s death.

“The worst has happened. Passions transformed into sordid, senseless, murderous rage,” she said. “Love of the team jersey has become hate for the other, hate for the sport, hate for life.”

Preliminary charges for attempted murder were filed against a man suspected of taking part in the assault after being identified through video surveillance cameras.

Yade called for the strict punishment of the perpetrators and for club management to prevent more violence.

The club’s next match, against Nice on Saturday, will be played to empty stands as a result of the violence, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.