Les Bleus return home under heavy security
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}By Dimitri Rahmelow
LE BOURGET, France (Reuters) - France's team returned to Paris under heavy police protection on Thursday after their humiliating first-round exit from the World Cup.
The plane chartered by the French Federation landed at Le Bourget business airport, 20 km north of Paris, after a 15-hour flight from South Africa.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A smattering of supporters were kept at a distance and dozens of photographers, cameramen and journalists were penned behind a wire fence.
Some of the players went straight into two coaches with darkened windows which left the airport through a back entrance.
Witnesses said the Olympique Lyon players and Franck Ribery flew out on in two private planes without going through the terminal.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Team captain Thierry Henry is expected later at the Elysee Palace for a meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy, a government spokesman said.
Les Bleus' World Cup campaign, marred by infighting and the boycott of a training session, ended on Tuesday with a 2-1 defeat by hosts South Africa that left them bottom of Group A without a win.
Their failure has turned into an affair of state.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On Wednesday, Sarkozy called for a wholesale review of French soccer after chairing a government meeting and Sports minister Roselyne said on Thursday "the resignation of French Federation chairman, Jean-Pierre Escalettes was unavoidable."
(Writing in Paris by Jean-Paul Couret, editing by Jon Bramley)