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Officials pledge World Cup will be safe
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As video of Brazilian fans kicking, beating and using metal bars to pummel supporters of a rival team spread across the globe, officials moved quickly to assure people considering coming to the 2014 World Cup they won’t see that type of violence during the global tournament.
A day after four people were hospitalized following clashes in a key match in the final round of the Brazilian league, World Cup organizers on Monday said fan safety will not be a problem during soccer’s showcase event.
“We can assure that the safety of this event will be guaranteed,” said Andrei Augusto Passos Rodrigues, one of the Brazilian government’s officials in charge of security during major events. “The lamentable scenes such as the ones that happened yesterday will not be repeated.”
But violence around Brazilian soccer is growing, including about 30 deaths this year. In July a referee in a village match fatally stabbed a player after an argument. The referee was then stoned and decapitated by the crowd.
Brazilian officials said the state-of-the-art stadiums being built or refurbished for the World Cup will help reduce the violence so common in the domestic league. In most Brazilian league games, anyone with a ticket can sit anywhere in the stadium. Rival fans take up separate sections, and confrontations often erupt where the groups meet.
On Sunday, hundreds of supporters from first-division clubs Atletico Paranaense and Vasco da Gama charged against each other in Joinville, exchanging punches, kicks and using homemade weapons in the fight. A police helicopter had to land on the field to airlift a man with a serious head injury.
FIFA said it could not comment on Joinville because it was not involved in the match, but reiterated it is confident in the security plans for the World Cup.
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