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Security chiefs say Cup a success despite troubles
Posted: Thursday July 09, 1998 09:25 AM
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The World Cup security force has been successful despite a few incidents (AP) |
PARIS (AP) -- Security at the World Cup has been a success despite street
violence that left a police officer in a coma and ravaged an historic
section of France's
third-largest city, officials in charge of the program said Thursday.
Dominique Spinosi, head of security for the French organizing committee,
and Horst Schmidt, her counterpart with FIFA, said there had been no
trouble in stadiums and that violence in World Cup cities had been limited
to two main confrontations.
They said years of planning and coordination with police and other
government agencies in a $20 million security program involving 6,000
workers had assured a safe environment for the more than 2.5 million fans
who peacefully attended the matches.
"We know it was a success, even though we acknowledge there have been
incidents," Schmidt said.
Spinosi said organizers had aimed their security plans at "the 99 percent
of the people we knew would come to party, and react quickly to the 1
percent who would act up."
"We tried to adapt and adjust our security setup," she said. "If we had
decided we were going to turn our French cities into bunkers, we would have
failed in our task. We have seen that football is an enormous festival. We
didn't want to spoil the fun."
With the Cup returning to Europe after a relatively crime-free stop in
the United
States four years ago, authorities knew they would have to deal with
violence by fans, especially followers of England and Germany.
Soon after the tournament started June 10, trouble hit. English fans
rampaged through the Old Port section of Marseille for three nights,
fighting rival fans, local youths and police. Shops and restaurants were
trashed, dozens hurt and hundreds arrested.
At the other end of the country, the tiny town of Lens was invaded the
night of the Germany-Yugoslavia
match by neo-Nazi groups from just across the border. Daniel Nivel, a
44-year-old police officer and father of two children, was beaten into a
coma by a German thug wielding an iron bar.
Officials said Thursday that Nivel remained in a coma while "continuing
day to day to show slight improvement in his condition."
Three Germans have been arrested in connection with that crime, the worst
violence associated with the World Cup since 250 fans were arrested in
fighting in Rimini, Italy, in 1990.
Schmidt and Spinosi repeated the stands taken by other soccer officials
that they could do only so much to secure areas away from the stadiums.
They also said that government authorities in Europe were hamstrung by
recent laws opening borders of European Union countries from passport
controls.
And they said that the problems in Marseille and Lens were two sides of
the violence picture. In Marseille, fans who drank all day and were
frustrated by lack of tickets ran riot. In Lens, about 450 known
neo-fascists from 30 German cities "came to pick a fight with police,"
Spinosi said.
Nivel, she said, had been caught off-guard away from the main police
force.
"Otherwise, the situation in Lens was under control," she said.
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