French Sports Minister Blasts Ligue 1 Violence as Euro 2016 Looms
The game was controversially restarted after a 20-minute stoppage and finished in a 1-1 draw.
French sports minister Thierry Braillard on Monday blasted as "unacceptable" violence that marred the weekend French league clash between Marseille and Lyon just months ahead of France hosting Euro 2016.
"We are after all six months from a tremendous event which is the organisation of the European football championship and I really call for everyone to assess what happened," Braillard told French radio RTL.
The return of Lyon's Mathieu Valbuena to face his former club had already made for a charged atmosphere. Lyon were leading 1-0 through a first-half penalty from Alexandre Lacazette when play was interrupted as objects, including bottles and cups, rained down from the stands.
The game was controversially restarted after a 20-minute stoppage and finished in a 1-1 draw.
"This is unacceptable and I think we really need to have much firmer controls," said Braillard.
"Marseille is a footballing city. The Marseille public is known to be a great public. I think there are security measures that must be respected and we can't see glass bottles like that in the stands.
"Where are we going? Imagine that a bottle had struck a player! What situation would we be in today? It's unacceptable and I think that we really need to tighten up controls."
An emergency meeting has been called by French Professional Football League (LFP) president Frederic Thiriez in the organisation's Paris headquarters on Monday to assess the situation.
The violence in Marseille was not an isolated incident with Saturday's Ligue 1 match between Bastia and Nice in Corsica also marred while Paris Saint-Germain's fans caused trouble in the streets of Reims after a 1-1 draw.
Euro 2016 will be hosted in France from June 10 to July 10.