France vowed drastic measures to ensure the smooth running of Euro 2016, as strikes and terror fears threaten to overshadow Europe’s showcase soccer event, which kicked off yesterday.
The action on the pitch started when hosts France faced Romania in the Stade de France in Paris, but industrial unrest and jitters over a potential terror attack have blighted the build-up to the tournament.
As train drivers vowed to disrupt services to the stadium, French President Francois Hollande said he would take “all necessary measures” to ensure the championships run without a hitch.
Photo: EPA
“I will be paying close attention ... and if decisions need to be made, they will be made,” Hollande said. “Public services will be provided... The whole of Europe will be watching.”
French Secretary of State for Transport Alain Vidalies said that striking rail workers might be ordered back to work.
Vidalies told Europe 1 radio the government would use “every tool available” to get fans to the opening match and “if we have to issue orders tomorrow [for trains to be driven], we will do so.”
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said that garbage that has been piling up in the capital for two days due to an ongoing strike would be collected, as hundreds of thousands of fans begin to arrive for the championships.
“Of course, all the rubbish will be collected... It is already being collected today,” Hidalgo told French TV.
Up to 90,000 police and private security guards are to protect players and supporters at the tournament, which is taking place just seven months after coordinated Islamic State group attacks in Paris killed 130 people.
The massive security operation got its first real test on Thursday when superstar French DJ David Guetta gave a free performance in the fan zone at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.
About 80,000 spectators had to pass through two checkpoints and stringent security searches.
However, another threat raised its ugly head when about 250 England fans clashed with police outside a bar in the southern city of Marseille late on Thursday.
Police used teargas to end the disturbances after the fans pelted officers with cans in the Vieux-Port area of the city, where England are to face Russia in their high-profile opener today.
Weeks of demonstrations and industrial action in protest at the Socialist government’s labor market reforms have provided a somber backdrop to Europe’s four-yearly festival of soccer.
Tournament organizers said the strikes and the garbage piled up in Paris had “already spoiled” the atmosphere.
“The image that is being given is not the one we wanted,” Euro 2016 chief organizer Jacques Lambert said.
Hollande has refused to back down on the unions’ demands to withdraw the labor reforms, saying the measures are necessary to cut stubbornly high unemployment.
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