AWACS, Employee Checks Part of World Cup Security
January 7, 2006
The German government will carry out background checks privacy groups call draconian on the 250,000 people working at the World Cup finals in Germany, according to a report issued Friday.
Anyone found to have "terrorist contacts" will be barred from working at the World Cup, Der Tagesspiegel reported, quoting a spokesman for the German interior ministry.
The checks will be carried out on personnel ranging from journalists to cleaning staff at the 12 World Cup stadiums, the paper said. Trying to calm fears of a witch-hunt, officials pointed out background checks on more than 10,000 people associated with last year's Confederations Cup led to only "one or two" people being barred from working at the event.
AWACS to help secure German airspace
German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble also sent a request to Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung on Thursday asking for deployment of NATO's AWACS surveillance planes during the World Cup, which stars June 9 and ends July 9.
It has become common practice for the security planes to circle overhead whenever massive crowds gather together. They regularly patrol during political summits and were also present at the 2004 Athens Olympics and Pope Benedict XVI's World Youth Day visit to Cologne last summer.
The Interior Ministry requested that NATO provide surveillance planes to prevent private aircraft from overflying the stadiums, a spokesman told the AP news agency on the condition of anonymity.
Run by Germany and 11 other nations, the 17-plane AWACS fleet has its closest base near the western German city of Aachen, meaning the pilots won't have a long commute to work during the tournament, which runs from June 9 to July 9.
No tanks in front of stadiums
While politicians in Berlin do not have a problem with the security planes making the rounds well out of sight above the stadiums, there is quite a bit of opposition to plans to have the German military on hand at the stadiums.
Schäule (photo) has said he fears police forces could be overwhelmed by the tournament's security issues. While he admitted placing tanks in front of the stadiums would be a bad idea, he said he could imagine soldiers protecting foreign embassies other international institutions in Germany.
Police forces are against an increased military presence in German cities during the World Cup and called Schäuble's suggestion ineffective.
"It is an annoying discussion that will not yield the results desired," Konrad Freiberg, head of the German police officers' union, told the Berliner Zeitung Friday.
Police "sufficiently" prepared
It's not necessarily what happens at the stadiums themselves that has police most concerned. Fans without tickets who watch the matches at bars and public viewing events -- and who won't be subject to stadium security checks and alcohol-free beer -- then meet later on the street have police worried more than what may happen in the stands.
Jürgen Mathies, head of the World Cup's police deployment working group, told the newspaper he was confident police vacation bans would ensure safety during the tournament.
"The federal and state police are sufficiently prepared for the World Cup," he said.