adminPARIS. — French Sports Minister Patrick Kanner said yesterday there was “no question” of cancelling Euro 2016 soccer finals in France despite last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris. “The Euro will be staged in conditions of maximum security, strengthened as a result of the events which we have just lived through.
“There is no question of cancelling this great popular festival,” said Kanner, speaking four days after a killing spree in the French capital and Stade de France left 129 dead and hundreds wounded.
“In no case should sport be stopped by terrorism,” added Kanner, who was at the national stadium last Friday when it came under attack by suicide bombers during the France-Germany friendly.
“We’ve shown that we are capable of making our stadia safe and we will draw all the consequences in order to raise the security bar even higher.” Three terrorists blew themselves up outside the Stade on the northern outskirts of Paris during the game. Mass panic among the 80 000 crowd was avoided by the match being allowed to continue, with the crowd eventually dispersing without serious incident.
French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira spoke about the “miraculous alchemy that prevented a massacre” at the national stadium with the terrorists killing one person. Kanner’s comments come less than 24 hours after European football’s governing body also insisted it was business as usual as far as the 2016 championships were concerned.
“The Euro final draw will go ahead as scheduled on 12 December at the Palais des Congres in Paris and the final tournament will be played in France from 10 June to 10 July 2016,” UEFA said in a statement.
Earlier yesterday, Junior Sports minister Thierry Braillard announced France’s Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 matches would go ahead as scheduled. Meanwhile, the Belgium-Spain international friendly scheduled in Brussels last night was cancelled on the recommendation of the national crisis centre following the Islamist attacks in Paris, official sources said.
The centre, under the interior ministry, recommended the cancellation of the match after the terrorist threat level was Monday raised to three, or severe, for the whole country, representing a possible and credible threat, according to a statement.
“This threat particularly concerns heavily populated places,” it said.
“A visible and reinforced police presence was requested for all major events with increased awareness at each. All citizens are also requested to be vigilant,” the crisis centre added.
“Decisions are taken by the crisis centre, which includes all the security services,” a Belgian government source said, confirming that the match was cancelled. The Belgian Football Association (URBSFA) confirmed the cancellation.
“At the end of the evening, the Belgian FA has been contacted by the government, which has made the recommendation not to have the Belgium-Spain match on Tuesday evening,” the Belgian association said, as quoted by the Belga news agency.
“In consultation with the competent authorities and the Spanish national team, the Belgian FA has decided to cancel the meeting,” it added. “We deeply regret that a friendly match between two motivated teams is cancelled so late and we understand the disappointment of many supporters.
“In view of these exceptional circumstances, we cannot however take any risk in security matters for our players and supporters,” it said. Spain coach Vicente del Bosque gave a lukewarm reaction to the news.
“Some of us wanted to play this game . . . but well, given there are security reasons,” he told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser. “I think the players are calm.” Nearly 50 000 people were expected for last night’s clash between Belgium, number one in the FIFA rankings, and European champions Spain.
After Friday’s attacks in Paris, OCAM had already recommended greater police vigilance for major public events. The attacks in the French capital killed 129 people with hundreds more wounded. — AFP.
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