The Eiffel Tower was closed Monday "after clashes broke out Sunday night between police and fans gathered to watch the Euro 2016 football final between France and Portugal," according to FRANCE 24. The Eiffel Tower management said that the French capital’s famed landmark could "not be opened in the proper security conditions" Monday after the clashes in which youths "set alight rubbish bins, a car and a scooter before being dispersed by the police." Around 40 people were arrested in Paris Sunday "after police used tear gas and a water cannon against football fans hurling glass bottles at officers at the Eiffel Tower." Other arrests "took place outside the Stade de France where the match was played." AFP photographers said that the base of the Eiffel Tower was "engulfed in clouds of tear gas as riot police repelled the youths, who started fires on the pavement and threw bottles and other objects at the police lines" (FRANCE 24, 7/11). REUTERS' Love & Pennetier reported nevertheless, Interior Minister Barnard Cazeneuve said that "the month-long tournament, involving dozens of matches and millions of fans, had gone off smoothly despite some fan violence, notably battles between Russian and British fans in the port city of Marseille early on in the tournament." Fears of an Islamist militant attack on the competition "prompted heightened security measures, but officials had resisted calls to ban the fan zones in Paris and elsewhere." Cazeneuve said, "France was able to remain France." He added that the country "nevertheless remained on maximum security alert" (REUTERS, 7/11).
BY THE NUMBERS: The PA reported Euro 2016's notable numbers included:
- Portugal won its first title after 35 games at European Championships -- before that the country had "played the most games at the tournament without winning it."
- 108 goals were scored in Euro 2016, "a rate of 2.12 per game; the lowest average for a European Championship since 1996 (2.06)."
- 52,000 -- Posts per minute on Twitter "following Gareth Bale's long-range free-kick which squirmed past England goalkeeper Joe Hart to put Wales ahead in their Group B match in Lens."
- 33,000 -- The capacity at Stade de Toulouse "was the lowest of any host venue, with four matches played there."
- 27 -- Iceland No. 1 Hannes Halldorsson "made the most saves so far, helping his team send England home along the way."
- 10 -- Stadiums hosted Euro 2016 matches, "with the opening game and final being played at the 80,000-capacity Stade de France" (PA, 7/11).
