By Andrew Warshaw in Belo Horizonte
June 20 – FIFA and World Cup organisers have promised there will be no repeat of the security breach that saw dozens of ticketless Chilean fans detained after smashing their way into the Maracana stadium media centre ahead of their team’s 2-0 win over Spain that knocked out the defending champions.
The daily FIFA briefing at the same iconic venue where the incident took place had to be extended by some 20 minutes as inquiring reporters – including one Brazilian newspaperman who angrily cited a perceived spate of security failures across the venues, describing the situation as a “fiasco” – grilled those on the podium to explain how and why the Maracana breach, television pictures of which were flashed around the world, happened.
“It is embarrassing,” FIFA director of security Ralf Mutschke admitted, adding that security operations must and would improve “in order that this will not happen again. Security is a big issue for all of us.”
Brazilian authorities said 87 people were detained after smashing their way through a perimeter fence and getting into the stadium media centre. Fans were angry at not being able to obtain tickets and being offered extortionate prices by touts, and released their frustration by stampeding through the media working area, knocking down partition walls while trying to gain access to the stands. They will be given 72 hours to leave the country, according to reports.
Hilario Medeiros, security manager for the local organising committee, said what happened was not because of a lack of staff. Over 1,000 security personnel were on site for the game, he said.
“It is important to emphasise that there was no violent conduct on the part of private security forces who have been trained that way,” he told reporters. “But operational procedures are being reassessed and definitely you will see a difference in the next event. We will work on this day and night.”
The Maracana hosts Belgium versus Russia on Sunday, the third of seven matches at the famous revamped stadium which also hosts the final on July 13.
Security issues have been a constant issue at other World Cup venues, with staff failing to arrive for work in Brasilia last Sunday and on Tuesday in Fortaleza, where Brazil played Mexico.
Amid criticism that the LOC and the local authorities were singing from very different hymn sheets over security, Medeiros said the Maracana was fully staffed Wednesday with 1,037 security workers. “We knew that this was a high risk operation,” he said. “We increased the number of stewards, not reduced them.”
Although no-one was badly hurt, roughly 1000 reporters and photographers are believed to have attended the pivotal fixture. Such was the shock the Chilean stampede generated that the international sports journalists association, AIPS, issued a statement calling on officials to better protect its members and other journalists for the remainder of the tournament.
The statement issued by AIPS president Gianni Merlo said that it while there was no question about the general goodwill of FIFA and the local organisers, “it is clearly a matter of regret that ‘real’ security and safety for our colleagues is absent”.
Citing a number of other pressing issues including thefts from lockers and “petty confiscation of minor items of food and drink” the statement added: “We call on FIFA to ensure that the focus of security staff within the FIFA Zone is directed at real security and safety issues for the sake of all working journalists and members of AIPS.”
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