Friday, 27.01.2012
According to the most recent information given by UEFA General Secretary Gianny Infantino, more than 1, 5 million of fans from all over the world are going to come for Europian football championship to Ukraine and Poland this summer. Thus, the question of security for the receiving countries should become one of the key aspects. The organizers of the tournament, who work hard at preparation of the large-scale sport event, already promised to apply their energies to make the guests of Euro 2012 feel safe and comfortable.
Among other things they claimed their readiness to prevent any accident during the championship. For this purpose at the present time a specific security scenario is developed for every match of the final part of continental championship: considering particularity of the receiving countries, the history of relations between the national teams–competitors and many other factors. “Every joust we consider as a separate event, that’s why we find individual approach to every one”, - confirmed the Deputy Head of National Agency of Ukraine on preparations for Euro 2012.
At the present time every hosting country thinks over in details the security conception of the championship. Thus, according to Polish police commander Andrzej Matejuk, his colleagues have been preparing for the future football tournament for more than three years. “We carried out a ground work, among other things, during the visit of the Patriarch of Rome. It’s much easier to secure religious ceremonies though, because the palmers are not aggressive at all. We have much more problems and risks for Euro 2012. Now different variants of special operations are elaborated, we proceed from the assumption that a fan should come to Poland, have a good time and feel safe. Our motto for Euro 2012 is: “Have fun, feel safe!”, - noted Andrzej Matejuk.
He said that activity of the police during the tournament will be determined by three terms: care, tolerance and suppression. “Under care we mean, that a policeman will help football funs for information. The tolerance will be that the rule-breakers will be reproved first, - the Head of Polish police explained. – And the suppression is the last extreme measure. If the behavior of funs will threaten safety, our actions will be strict: we will settle for suppression and neutralization of disruptive behavior”.
Ukraine for its part also claims its intention to provide the highest level of security, but at the same time – as the Director of local organization committee “Euro 2012 Ukraine” Markiyan Lubkivsky underlined – it should be unobtrusive. “The championship of Europe is like an iceberg. The top of it is what is suggested for fans. And below is an invisible part of preparations, which foresees all the risks”, - noted the Director of the tournament in Ukraine. – At the same time we shouldn’t set the signal like: “We will resist cruelly all the risks!” Our country is friendly, and it is ready to provide security for everybody. We count on that everybody who comes here will return home with the best impressions”, - claimed Markiyan Lubkivsky.
But the national team of Netherlands seems not to trust the law enforcement of Ukraine. That’s why – to look after the fans – it takes to Kharkov, where it is going to play three matches, a whole landing force of policemen from Netherlands. “They are arriving with their team, 14 people in total, they will live not far from fans, - in Kharkov militia they told us. – Public order maintenance is our job, and the policemen from Netherlands will work with their fans, because there can be some problem fellows among them - ultras of “Feyenoord” and “Ajax”.
Ukrainian law-enforcement officers hope for solidarity of Dutch fans: when they root not for favorite football clubs, but for the national team, they forget about animosity and opposition.
