French football matches will be cancelled if fans jeer the pre-kickoff national anthem, President Sarkozy has decreed, after the Marseillaise was drowned out by mocking whistles at the start of a France-Tunisia friendly at the Stade de France on Tuesday night.

The incident in Paris, which drew indignation from the political and sports worlds, was the third in which French crowds of immigrant origin have whistled and booed the home team when it played one of the country’s former North African colonies.

The jeering began as soon as Lââm, a young French pop singer of Tunisian background, began a solo rendition of the Marseillaise. The 50,000 crowd, dominated by fans of Tunisian and North African origin, also chanted “Tunisia, Tunisia” and booed when French players’ names were announced before the kick-off.

After France established a 3-1 lead, many spectators deserted the stadium before the referee’s final whistle. Television commentators deplored the behaviour of the crowd.

Mr Sarkozy and the authorities had no time for the standard explanation that the jeering reflected anger among second-generation youths from the immigrant estates over their exclusion from mainstream France. He arrived late at the match and was furious to see the crowd booing French-North African players. “This is nothing less than scandalous,” he said.

The jeering was strongest against Hatem Ben Arfa, a France player whose parents came from Tunisia and who refused overtures from the Tunisian Federation to play for their team. Ben Arfa said that he was not upset by the hostile crowd. “I’m not angry with them,” he said. “They need to exist, you have to understand them.”

Similar reactions came from some media and internet commentators. “The majority of the ones booing are lost kids between 15 and 20. They are not responsible adults,” said a comment on the 20 Minutes news site.

Passing on Mr Sarkozy’s orders, Rosalyne Bachelot, the Health and Sports Minister, said: “Any match when our national anthem is whistled will be stopped immediately. Government members will leave the arena.”

Ms Bachelot was summoned to the Élysée Palace with Jean-Pierre Escalettes, head of the football federation. Mr Escalettes deplored the booing but told Mr Sarkozy that he would not take responsibility for “dumping 50,000 people into the street just like that, without warning”. Mr Sarkozy said the State would ensure security.

Bernard Laporte, the junior Sports Minister and former coach of the national rugby union side, suggested that no further matches be played against Tunisia, Algeria or Morocco in Paris until further notice. “Let’s stop the hypocrisy,” he said. “We cannot tolerate our Marseillaise being jeered.”

Michèle Alliot-Marie, the Interior Minister, ordered police to track down the worst offenders using television and CCTV footage.

Mr Sarkozy has long seen rebellion in the football stadiums as a threat to law and order and the nation. As Interior Minister in 2003, he reacted to the jeering of the Marseillaise by bringing in a law that made it an offence to insult the national flag or anthem, on pain of six months in jail and a £6,000 fine.

Critics at the time called the law unworkable and very few cases have reached the courts.

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