Comedian John Bishop slams 'shambolic' policing at Champions League final

John Bishop has publicly criticised the "disgraceful" treatment of Liverpool fans at the UEFA Champions League final in Paris, in a series of angry posts on social media.

The comedian, who was at the game, posted on Instagram saying it was "the worst organised football match" he had ever attended.

He went on to say: "The police have stopped people on the perimeter, they’re tear-gassing the crowd for no reason whatsoever.

"All they’ve got to do is open gates and let people in… this is a problem waiting to happen."

"It's a disgrace the way they’ve handled this - an absolute disgrace"

Earlier, as he tried to get into the ground, he posted on Twitter that he had been waiting with other Liverpool fans for 25 minutes at one of the gates, and nobody was being allowed in.

He went on to say that this is a "disgraceful treatment of fans who are displaying an unbelievable level of patience."

The match at the Stade de France on Saturday 28 May had to be delayed by more than half an hour.

UEFA later blamed the delay on fans who they alleged had turned up late and with fake tickets.

A widely criticised statement from the football governing body read: "This created a build-up of fans trying to get in.

"As a result, the kick off was delayed by 35 minutes to allow as many fans as possible with genuine tickets to gain access.

"As numbers outside the stadium continued to build up after kick off, the police dispersed them with tear gas and forced them away from the stadium.

"UEFA is sympathetic to those affected by these events and will further review these matters urgently together with the French police and authorities, and with the French Football Federation."

Footage shows John Bishop caught up in the crowd of fans

But footage shows french riot police teargassing supporters, some children, as they wait at gates to enter the stadium, holding their tickets.

Videos posted on social media showed fans climbing over fences to get into the ground and pepper spray being used, as well as police clashing with fans.

On Monday, Bishop described the handling of the event as "shambolic" and welcomed news that the authorities were now looking in to the policing of the match.

"Glad the authorities are looking into the shambolic handling of the CL final. It is the worst policing I have experienced.

"I saw tear gas being used for no reason and ppl forced towards gates whilst turnstiles remained closed.

"Chaos afterwards too. Both sets of fans behaved well."

In a news conference on Monday, the French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin blamed "fraud at an industrial level" for the scenes of chaos that unfolded outside the Stade de France.

"I would like to express our regrets with regard to the organisation of this final, because some people were not able to see the whole of the match," French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told a news conference on Monday.

"And, of course, I deplore also the errors that took place before this football match," he added.

The politician said 70% of tickets "were fake," resulting in delays, adding: "More than 2,600 were confirmed by Uefa as non-validated tickets even though they had gone through the first filtering."

Taking to social media yet again, John Bishop slammed the response from the French authorities, saying it was "bad organisation, bad policing backed up with bad lies.

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