Euro 2012 organisers urge Ukrainian police force to adopt a softly softly approach

By Andrew Warshaw

May 22 – Ukraine’s police force has been urged to go easy on foreign tourists at the 2012 European Championship and improve their image of heavy-handedness.

With thousands of fans converging on Ukraine for the tournament next month, organisers are keen for police to take a more softly softly approach.

“We hope our police will be service-oriented and tolerant with fans,” Euro 2012 director Markian Lubkivsky said.

“We have expressed this message many times to our colleagues in the Interior Ministry.”

Ukraine, co-hosting with Poland, expects at least 700,000 fans to attend matches in Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk, the biggest sporting event since the former Soviet republic became independent 20 years ago.

Lubkivsky said there was little or no intelligence about possible trouble between rival fans.

“We have not had any signals from police or from the state security service which give us cause to worry about security in the stadiums or in Ukraine,” he said.

Altogether, Ukraine will have about 23,000 police on duty.

Human rights organisations like Amnesty International have accused the authorities of using excessive force against suspects.

“As things stand, fans visiting Euro 2012 are under threat from a criminal police force,” Max Tucker, Amnesty International’s campaigner on Ukraine, said in a statement this month.

But Ukrainian police insist they will not resort to violence.

“We will be loyal and will provide all help to our citizens and foreigners,” said spokesman Volodymyr Polishchyuk.

“We understand that the image of Ukraine also depends on us.”

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