Lyon's French Cup tie abandoned as rival supporters fight and invade pitch

The French Cup last 64 game between Paris FC and Olympique Lyonnais was abandoned following crowd trouble on Friday as violence continued to hit French football.

Supporters fought while some of them went on to the Charlety stadium’s pitch and threw flares at half-time with the game level at 1-1. After 45 minutes, the stadium announcer came on to the field to ask fans to leave the arena.

Lyon were docked one point in Ligue 1 after their home game against Marseille was abandoned last month after Marseille’s Dimitri Payet had been hit by a bottle thrown from the stands.

French football has been marred by crowd trouble this season, prompting the government to announce on Thursday that games would be abandoned if a player or a referee is injured by a projectile thrown from the stands.

Among other measures, the government said a decision on whether to abandon a game after any crowd incident would be taken within a maximum 30 minutes after it occurred. It also pledged to uphold more stringent stadium bans imposed on violent supporters.

Nice were docked two points, one of them suspended, after serious incidents during their game in August against Marseille, when visiting players clashed with home fans who pelted them with missiles and stormed on to the pitch.

The northern derby between Lens and Lille was hit by crowd problems in September, with the start of the second half delayed after rival fans threw objects at each other before people ran on to the pitch, prompting riot police and stewards to intervene.

There has also been crowd trouble in Montpellier, Angers, Marseille and St Etienne.

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