Roman Kemp has claimed he was ‘teargassed’ by French police while at the Champions League Final this weekend.
The Capital Breakfast presenter, 29, wanted to clear the air about the ‘carnage before getting into the game’ live to co-hosts Sian Welby and Sonny Jay.
The star detailed the ‘really scary moment’ police were ‘laughing at the fans’ before throwing teargas and pepper stray while they were trapped in a tiny entrance tunnel at the Stade de France.
‘It was the worst experience I’ve had’: Roman Kemp detailed the ‘really scary hostile’ situation at Champions League Final on Monday as he claimed he was ‘teargassed’ by French police
Roman said: ‘There is so much fake stories about what actually happened. And I was there. I was literally there.
‘The second we got there, it was hostility straightaway, there were just police vans everywhere.
‘Put it this way, you’ve got 20,000 Liverpool fans. The only gap that they were allowing people to walk through, down a narrow alleyway, concrete wall either side, the only gap that they were allowing was, like, 70 to 90 centimetres wide.
‘So even for one person, you had to turn to the side to get through it.’
Sian, 35, asked: ‘So is this like a turnstile?’
Roman replied: ‘No, not even a turnstile. They had just purposefully edged the police riot’
The DJ arrived at the stadium in plenty of time and expected to normally get inside with in half an hour, unfortunately this was not the case.
He attended the match with two friends who were both Liverpool supports and wore the British teams shirts while he opted for a Real Madrid one.
‘It was crazy’: The star detailed the ‘scary moment’ police were ‘laughing at the fans’ before throwing teargas and pepper stray while they were trapped in a tiny entrance tunnel at the Stade de France (pictured ahead of the match with friends)
Shocking: Roman’s friend had a ‘panic attack’ while entering the stadium and he also witness disabled fans being ‘pushed by police’ while other officers were just laughing
He continued: ‘One of my mates is having a panic attack at the time and saying “I just need to get out”. And I just keep having to say to him, “just keep looking ahead, we’ll make it there.”
‘And then all sudden, the police on this side, they’re in their vans, and they’re just laughing. And no one is kicking of and then all of a sudden tear gas starts getting thrown at us, all of a sudden the pepper spray starts coming out from the top, right around the gates.
‘People are panicking. I saw there were boys there, young kids were in there, people trying to hold up their kids and literally nothing was happening.
‘It was the worst experience I’ve ever had in a football ground.’
Roman also witness disabled and visually impaired fans being ‘pushed by police’ while other officers were just laughing.
‘Horrendous’: Roman became more annoyed after reading online that others were saying it was the Liverpool fans fault, he said: ‘I’m not a Liverpool fan but I’ll tell you right now, they did absolutely nothing wrong, it was just so, so horrendous
He added: ‘I was seeing disabled fans, I saw one lad who had his dad who was obviously visually impaired, and the police just pushed him. Like, you know when you’re just like “what is going on?” then you’ve got people on the other side that are just like laughing.’
Roman became more annoyed after reading online that others were saying it was the Liverpool fans fault.
He continued: ‘I’m not a Liverpool fan but I’ll tell you right now, they did absolutely nothing wrong. And it was just so, so horrendous.
‘It was discriminatory against Liverpool fans. And the reason I say that, they should investigate it, because when we got in there, all the Real Madrid fans were in there, and the Liverpool fans were not in there, at all.
‘Absolutely crazy’: UEFA called for an inquiry from French officials into the use of teargas on fans at the Stade de France
‘It was it was crazy, it was absolutely crazy.
‘Then they have the cheek of it to say “oh the game’s kicked off [late] because of the late arrival of fans”. It wasn’t! They wouldn’t let you in! It was really, really scary.’
UEFA has since released a statement that suggested thousands of Liverpool fans had been caught out and tried using ‘fake tickets’ that didn’t work at the turnstiles.
The governing body later called for an inquiry from French officials into the use of teargas on fans at the Stade de France.
Liverpool fans including families and young children were ‘teargassed’ by French police as chaos outside the Stade de France marred the build-up to the club’s UEFA Champions League final clash this evening
Ahead of the match Roman and his two friends experienced the atmosphere around the city.
He gushed: ‘Let me say, they [Liverpool fans] were fantastic. Every bar that I went to the Liverpool fans were respectful of the owners, they weren’t spilling out onto the street. It was great.
‘Honestly, they were sticking to their areas, there was no trouble, I didn’t see one fight or anything that people associate with with “football hooliganism” and things like that. There was nothing, [everyone was] really, really polite.’
Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp airs weekdays from 6am – 10am on Capital and Global Player
Riot police and Liverpool fans pictured at the entry to the Stade de France in Paris
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