Tensions flare at Paris Olympics as pro-Palestine supporters crash Israel v Mali football match

Security was slow to respond as half a dozen Palestinian supporters unravelled flags in front of a couple waving an Israeli flag – who were moved on just 22 minutes into the match.

Palestine supporters in the stands at the Israel v Mali match.

Tensions ignited at the Israel versus Mali group football match in Paris early this morning when Israeli and pro-Palestinian spectators were situated just one row behind each other.

The game was highly sensitive and considered a security risk yet the spectators of the two teams were not separated.

French interior minister Gerald Darmanin was in attendance to personally oversee the deployment of 1000 police to protect the venue because of tensions caused by the Middle East conflict.

Supporters wave Palestinian flags during the Mali v Israel match at the Parc des Princes in Paris. Picture: AFP

But the security was slow to react to a pressure situation in the spectator stands just in front of the media tribunes.

Half a dozen Palestinian supporters unravelled Palestinian flags and the symbol of the Palestinian cause, watermelon coloured fans and a blow up tube. Two wore shirts saying in French “Help, the silence kills. Palestine will live’’.

Directly behind them sat a couple waving an Israeli flag who were moved on 22 minutes into the match.

Israeli and pro-Palestinian spectators were situated just one row behind each other.

Israeli and pro-Palestinian spectators were situated just one row behind each other.

Initially the Israeli couple stood their ground insisting they had done nothing wrong. At one point a man wearing a T-shirt of the Israeli Hostage Forum “Bring Them Home” and another draped in the Israeli flag talked to the couple, and they were moved to a different area, allowing the Palestinian group to wave their Palestinian symbols with the entire row behind having been cleared out.

The Israelis faced a hostile Park du Princes crowd, with opposition fans jeering during their national anthem before the match.

Earlier the Israeli football team was surrounded by intense levels of security usually afforded to a high risk head of state when they arrived for their country’s initial participation in the Paris Olympic Games on Wednesday night.

Israel was escorted to the Park du Princes stadium – the home of Paris Saint Germain – to play Mali followed by a long convoy of security vehicles.

Israel's players pose for a team picture before their match against Mali. Picture: AFP

A convoy of motorcyclists surrounded the team bus, with 14 riders and heavily armed pillion passengers behind and followed by at least 14 blacked out vehicles. One was the country’s elite police tactical unit, the GIGN (National Gendarmerie Intervention Group).

The Israel-Mali match finished in a 1-1 draw.

Mr Darmanin said there had been a few incidents on the opening day of competition in group matches at the rugby sevens and the football.

During the Argentina-Morocco football match in Saint-Etienne, the pitch was invaded by around 20 Moroccan supporters with bottles and cups thrown delaying the match.

Mr Darmanin said there were no injuries and the match resumed “without any incidents, either for the players or for the spectators”.