Jubilation on Paris Champs-Elysees after France make WC final

Agency :
There were jubilant scenes on the Champs-Elysees avenue in central Paris on Wednesday as French supporters waved tricolour flags and let off flares to celebrate the win over Morocco which put Les Bleus into the World Cup (WC) final.
Some 10,000 police were mobilised across France to ensure the match and its aftermath went off peacefully, given the potential of a tension between French supporters and those backing France’s one time North African colony.
But there was little sign of tension as supporters thronged the end of the avenue leading up to the Arc de Triomphe in impassioned but largely good-natured scenes with Moroccan supporters accepting defeat, AFP correspondents said.
“We are in the final. We are in the final,” hundreds of French supporters chanted as drivers sounded horns and anti-riot police lurked in vans lining the area.
“What pleasure it will be to play Argentina in the final,” said Sylvain Badin, 24, clutching a French flag. “I came to share a moment of joy,” he added.
Dozens of Moroccan fans had also made themselves heard during the match in the area, swathing themselves in the national flag and following the match on their phones.
“We lost but it’s only football and we made history by making the semi-finals. We are proud of our country and happy for France,” said Kamal Seddiki, a Moroccan student, 22.
There had been 170 arrests nationwide, including 100 in Paris, when both Morocco and France made the semi-finals at the weekend.
But celebrations appeared free of tension and a van of the French anti-riot police even used one of its sirens to mark the moment when Kolo Muani scored the goal to give France a decisive 2-0 lead.