IVORY COAST: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Ivory Coast versus Burkina Faso World Cup qualifier held amid strong security

Record ID: 181921

  • Title: IVORY COAST: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Ivory Coast versus Burkina Faso World Cup qualifier held amid strong security
  • Date: 6th September 2009
  • Summary: ANTI-RIOT POLICE WALKING
  • Embargoed: 21st September 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVADD1USSH0ESKZ2DGB0I850PD76
  • Story Text: Ivory Coast are playing second-placed Burkina Faso in Abidjan on Saturday (September 5) in their World Cup qualifier.
    A win by Ivory Coast would put them within a point of qualifying for the World Cup finals in South Africa next year.
    Security at the stadium is tight after at least 19 fans died in a crush at an earlier qualifying match against Malawi in March of this year.
    Claude Yoro, FIFA chief of security in the Ivory Coast, said that police had set up a series of cordons and checkpoints around the stadium to prevent a repeat of the tragedy which occurred when too many fans packed into the stadium.
    "We have placed a one-km radius security perimeter around the stadium, with 21 check points, to isolate the stadium," Yoro said. "After this first perimeter, there is a second perimeter filter 200 metres from the stadium, with 13 checkpoints. Apart from that we have the usual police service assuring order in the immediate perimeter of the stadium, and of course more importantly inside the stadium."
    FIFA has reduced the number of seats inside the stadium from 34,000 to 20,000 to avoid filling the stadium over its capacity.
    Around 2,000 seats have been reserved for the Burkinabe supporters. Police doubled their usual numbers. FIFA had warned that they would suspend matches at Felix Houphouet-Boigny stadium if the country did not comply with safety regulations.
    The stadium now has a system of surveillance cameras which can be used with radio communication to warn police of violence or other flash points.
    Ferdinand Meese, president for security of the Belgian Football Federation, said adequate measures were in place.
    "What I can say is that since this morning everything has been put in place, everything is well prepared and organised. We are well prepared," he said.
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