With flags, song, pride, the French celebrate the unifying victory



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PARIS – This is a victory for all of France and the local crowd has done justice, pouring in tens of thousands on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris in an explosion of joy.

Victory of France 4-2 France's victory over Croatia in the final of the World Cup in Moscow on Sunday marked the second time in 20 years that France won the World Cup and arrived at a time when the people felt in need. , wearing a hat resembling a rooster – the French national symbol – and a shirt with the number 10 Kylian Mpappe, the 19-year-old star from the Paris suburb of Bondy.

There have been a lot of problems in France in recent years, "he said, recalling deadly terrorist attacks." It's good for morale … here we are all united. We mix. There is no religion, there is nothing, and that is what makes you feel good. "

The troublemakers spoiled some festivities at the top of the Champs-Elysees, breaking the window of a department store, throwing bottles, temporary barriers and even a bicycle to the riot police while the celebrations end around midnight. Police fought back with water cannons and tear gas. BFM-TV reported that the store was looted.

Earlier, people wrapped in flags and dressed in crazy hats, and a man spotted totally naked except for the Tricolor, walked the avenue where France showed its military might a day earlier. Bastille Day

Party-goers launch smoke bombs in national colors – blue, white and red – obscuring Napoleon's triumphal arch. People climbed to the top of each newsstand and bus stop in the area to wave flags and lead the crowds below in cheers. The national anthem, the Marseillaise, sounds, car horns and cracks of cherry bombs.

A young man sprays a fire extinguisher on the crowd a late hot afternoon.

Hundreds of police in riot gear are discreetly lined up on the side streets to watch the partygoers. As a rule, celebrations in France end with broken windows and other destructions, and Sunday was no exception. Tear gas was lobed at one point on the Champs-Elysees. About 4,000 policemen were monitoring the fan zone – up to 90,000 of capacity – during the match, and then headed for the Champs-Elysees and the surrounding streets.

Night fell, the Eiffel Tower burst 1998-2018 to mark the two World Cups

The Arc de Triomphe was awash in national colors, lit by the rooster, the faces of the team winning and the words "Proud to be blue", or French.

Celebrations were spread across the nation.

For all crazy antics – and some partygoers who have lost control – a feeling of patriotism and unity was almost visceral.

Antoine Griezmann, the French striker who scored one of the goals on Sunday, said at a press conference. Two days before the final, broadcast on BFM television, this pride of the country is rare.

"We say so little … We should be proud to be French," Griezmann said.

Mahmoud Bourassi among those who have a longer-term vision and he had a few He runs a youth house in Bondy – Mbappe's house which was among those who were rioted in 2005 who exposed the France's cracks that have not healed yet – and he "All this euphoria and effervescence, it's positive but it's moving and ephemeral", he declared before the victory of France. Bourassi said that sport is a "catalyst for bringing people and nations together."

But, he added, he must be built on.

"What we see is magical, exceptional, but what will we do with it tomorrow?"

This is a question for President Emmanuel Macron, who was in Moscow to celebrate the victory of the team, and who will receive the team more formally Monday at the presidential Elysee.

Revelers celebrated the moment.

"We are happy, it took 20 years … it is the pride of the nation, it unites everyone, it federates" said Frédérique Pourquet while she and her friend left the Champs-Elysees.

The victory "shows that the French are consolidated and the work of all France," said Omar Bzi. Asnières, north of Paris, said: "It's a way to bring the French closer, and also the world."

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John Leicester in Moscow contributed to this report.

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