By Samindra Kunti
June 29 – Euro 2016 organisers and UEFA have disclosed there has not been a formal terror threat to the tournament as the quarter-finals stage gets underway on Thursday.
Security has been a major issues at the tournament since the terror attacks last year in the French capital and more recently in Brussels, Belgium.
Before the tournament’s kick-off, tensions rose after Ukrainian officials arrested a Frenchman at the Polish-Ukrainian border. He claimed that he had been trying to smuggle an arsenal of weapons back to France in order to attack 15 different sites during Euro 2016.
More than 90,000 police, soldiers and private security agents have been deployed across France to ensure the safety for the duration of the tournament. Security checks at the different venues, often with a double perimeter, have oscillated between the stringent and lax.
“My message is clear: we have no knowledge of targeted, concrete threats within a stadium or other venue at Euro 2016,” said Jacques Lambert, the president of Euro 2016 SAS, before the start of the tournament. “I believe the messages that have come from a number of countries are understandably precautionary.”
Yesterday, at an informal press conference, Theodore Theodoridis, UEFA’s interim general secretary, said that, so far, there had been no specific terror threats at Euro 2016. “I knock on wood,” said Theodoridis
He highlighted the two false alarms on the last day of the round of 16 – a suspicious package in Nice and a false bomb alarm in Saint-Denis. The bomb alarm turned out to be hoax with a caller tricking the authorities.
Theodoridis stressed the importance of staying focused. He singled out the preparation and co-operation of the French authorities with praise. His comments came before the terror attacks at Istanbul’s Attaturk airport, which left 41 persons dead.
Euro 2016 will culminate on July 10 with the final in Saint-Denis.
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