Liverpool Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram to discuss Champions League final chaos with French senate
Mayor of Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram will appear in front of the French Senate later to discuss the chaos at the Champions League final in Paris.
The Mayor will talk to French senators about his own experience and offer his views on where things went wrong before and after the game.
It comes after the Paris Police Chief earlier apologised to the Senate for pepper spraying Liverpool fans - but claimed it was justified in the circumstances after chaotic scenes unfolded outside the Stade de France on Saturday 28 May.
The match between Liverpool and Real Madrid was delayed, with fans pressed up against the fences and tear gas and pepper spray used.
Mr Rotheram was at the match as a Liverpool fan, and tweeted just before the game kicked off saying: "The scenes outside the Stade De France are completely chaotic, with a total breakdown of control and communication outside the ground.
"All relevant authorities must be held accountable for this failure."
The Mayor revealed that, "like too many others" his phone and other belongings had been stolen outside the football stadium.
In a tweet he wrote: "Sorry if I've been quiet since Saturday but, like too many others, I had my phone and other belongings stolen by dippers on the approach to the stadium.
"If you need to contact me while I sort a new phone, my DMs are open. I'll have much more to say shortly."
Representatives from local authorities, police and final organisers met in Paris on 30 May to review events, after calls for an investigation from MPs.
Football fans, politicians and UK authorities slammed the policing of the match, but French authorities blamed Liverpool fans for trying to gain entry to the stadium with fake tickets.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said it was a case of "fraud at an industrial level", but that he regretted the "errors" that took place.
Football's governing body UEFA then launched an independent review into the issues, later apologising for the distress caused to supporters.
Liverpool Football Club wrote to UEFA asking for clarity over how the review would be compiled.
Thousands of Reds supporters submitted first-hand accounts, which Liverpool West Derby MP Ian Bryne described it as the "most horrific experience" since the Hillsborough tragedy.
He told ITV News: "There will be many people like me who were at Hillsborough who would have felt those horrible sensations come back to them - when they were seeing people crushed against fences."
Ian Byrne has asked the government to back a full independent inquiry into the way fans were treated at the final.
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