|
|
|
| March 1, 2003 | Saturday | Zul Hijjah 27, 1423 |
SA police play down security concerns
CENTURION, Feb 28: Saturday’s high-profile World Cup clash between Pakistan and India at the SuperSport Park here is not just a big match for the players involved.
The encounter between the Asian rivals offers both commercial opportunities for local businessmen as well as potential headaches for those charged with ensuring crowd safety. But Ben van Deventer, a director of the South African police and member of the World Cup security directorate, said on Friday that the match would be treated like any other.
“We have got some special arrangements in place in so much as we will have leaflets in place and announcements being made in the appropriate languages because for a lot of spectators English will not be their first langauge,” said van Deventer.
“The same goes for signage at the ground where we will also have staff who can speak to spectators in their language. It’s important that we can communicate with them and that they can talk to us.
“At all Cup matches we place a particular emphasis on searching spectators and their bags when they come into the ground.”
Despite attempts by those involved to play down the significance of this match the extremist rhetoric of some fans has understandably led to safety worries.
“The bottom line is that we have not made any additional security arrangements for this match — we’ve just tried to make sure we can communicate with the spectators,” said van Deventer.
And the encouraging precedent for him and his colleagues is that, despite similar fears, the 1999 World Cup tie between India and Pakistan passed off with just three arrests and nine ejections from the ground.—AFP
|
|
|
|
