Skip to main content

EURO 2016: France deploys 90,000 police men ahead of competition

Barley a day to the UEFA Euro 2016 championship, France, the host nation of the tournament, has continued to tighten security across the country to check terror attacks.

An investigation carried out on Thursday by the Europe Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) revealed that authorities have beefed up security with policemen and bomb detectors, among others, at the venues of the 51 matches throughout the tournament.

Sources at UEFA told NAN that at least 90,000 police have been deployed to ensure safety at the venues of the matches.

According to the source, this includes 77,000 police, gendarmes and riot control officers alongside 13,000 private security agents and 1,000 volunteers.

In the same vein, 10,000 soldiers had already been stationed across cities as part of anti-terrorism measures.

The soldiers will also be handed more responsibility to protect sites during Euro 2016.

The security measures were also extended to ”Fan Zones” where crowds would be watching the games on large TV screens in major cities.

According to French authorities, about 2.5 million spectators are expected for the 51 soccer matches involving 24 teams in games to be played at 10 stadiums across the country.

Recent terrorist attacks in France had put the nation on spotlight after hundreds were killed in 2015 in the Stade de France attack and Charlie Hebdo shooting among others.

The UEFA Euro 2016 championship holds from June 10 to July 10.

Host nation France would play Romania in the opening match

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Court grants Fani-Kayode N50m bail

Fani-kayode sandwiched by EFCC officials Justice James Tsoho of the Federal High Court Abuja on Thursday granted a N50m bail to former spokesman of the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode. Fani-Kayode was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a five-count charge of money laundering to the tune of N26m. Fani-Kayode is the sole defendant in the fresh charges numbered, FHC/ABJ/CR/140/2016. The EFCC accused the defendant of diverting 26 million Naira allegedly received from the ONSA while Sambo Dasuki was in office. The anti-graft agency also accused him of handling the said N26 million without going through financial institution as required under the Money Laundering Act. The embattled former minister is already facing 17-count charge of money laundering before the Lagos Division of the court, along with a former Finance Minister; Nenadi Usman, Danjuma Yusuf and a firm; Joint Trust Dimension Nigeria Limited. They were charg...

Pope not involved in Colombian peace deal- Vatican

Pope Francis Pope Francis has turned down a request to play a role in the peace deal between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group. The Vatican in a statement issued on Wednesday in in Vatican City said that an invitation was sent to his Holiness in early August to appoint a representative to participate in the committee that selected the judges for the talks. The statement said that though Pope Francis supported the peace process, he, however, reiterated that he would not get involved in Colombian peace deal. It said that Pope was praying for the enlightenment of the hearts and minds of those who were called to promote the common good of the Colombian nation. A deal was announced last week, putting an end to five decades of internal conflict between government forces and the FARC rebels. The agreement, which needed to be ratified through a referendum in Oct. 2, would entail setting up a special court to grant amnesties or pu...

Man docked for defiling 9-year-old girl

magistrate-court A 33-year-old man, Godwin Otobo, was on Monday docked at a Surulere Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos.For allegedly defiling a nine-year-old girl, ‎Otobo, who lives at No. 10, Borrow Pit St., Sangotedo-Ajah area of Lagos, was said to have defiled the underage girl whose parents also reside in the same compound. The Prosecutor, Sgt. Anthonia Osayande, told the court that the accused committed the offence at about 9.00 p.m. sometimes in September. “The accused defiled the girl in the night when she was fetching water.‎ “The offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011,’’ Osayande told the court. The accused pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge of defilement. Ruling on a bail application filed by the accused, Chief Magistrate Ipaye Nwachukwu, granted him bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in like sum. She said one of the sureties must be a property owner in Lagos State, while the other must be a civil servant on grade...