Eiffel Tower gig tests French security on eve of Euro 2016
AFP
AFP, PARIS: France on Thursday faced the first major security challenge of Euro 2016 with a giant concert at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, where visitors were greeted by piles of uncollected rubbish.
Superstar French DJ David Guetta will perform in the 90,000-capacity fan zone, a day before hosts France confront Romania in the opening match at the capitals Stade de France.
The concert will be the first test of the massive security operation to guard a tournament that is taking place just seven months after a jihadist attack in Paris that killed 130 people.
France has mustered up to 90,000 police and private guards to provide security for the month-long tournament.
But the start of Europes four-yearly football extravaganza looks set to be blighted by continuing strikes over the governments controversial labour reforms.
A train strike has rumbled into its ninth day, and as hundreds of thousands of fans began arriving for the football, rubbish was piling up on the streets of Paris in rising temperatures.
Union blockades of incineration plants were preventing collections in a dispute that escalated this week, despite a pledge by Paris mayor on Thursday to get the garbage cleared.
Piles of black rubbish bags were also building up in the southern city of Marseille, which will host four Euro 2016 matches including Englands high-profile clash with Russia on Saturday.
Environment Minister Segolene Royal appealed to unions to end their disruption, warning they were endangering the image of France. People want things to return to normal, for the mess to end, Royal told iTele, saying it was not right for a modern country to continue being permanently disrupted.
Frances pride is at stake, Royal said. Lets not harm Frances capacity to organise global events.
Air France pilots have called for a four-day strike to start on Saturday, when an estimated two million foreign fans will be arriving in earnest. The latest round of negotiations broke down on Thursday.
The situation is reminiscent of 1998, when Air France pilots grounded planes for 10 days ahead of the football World Cup hosted by France and a last-minute solution was only found on the day the tournament begun.
President Francois Hollande has refused to back down on the unions demands to withdraw the labour reforms, arguing the measures are necessary to cut unemployment and make it easier for companies to take on new staff and fire them in a downturn.
As the France team arrived in Paris from their training base ahead of the opening match, authorities were taking no chances.
France remains a top target for the Islamic State (IS) group and warnings from the United States and Britain that the tournament could be a target have only added to the sense of nervousness.
All eyes though will be on the fan zone at the Eiffel Tower where Guetta will head a star-studded lineup, with a huge security operation in place.
I refuse to think of the risk, Guetta told Le Parisien newspaper. I dont want to change my routine after what happened in Paris (in November).
The November 13 carnage began at the Stade de France, when three suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the stadium during a France-Germany game. The same stadium will host Fridays opening match and the final will also be played there on July 10.
Among a host of new security measures, a new perimeter fence has been added around the stadium for Euro 2016 to allow more security searches of spectators.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve confirmed Wednesday that 300 people had been barred from serving in the private security teams after vetting showed they had been radicalised.
The arrest of a Frenchman with alleged far-right sympathies in possession of an arsenal of weapons in Ukraine on Monday caused new jitters.
Ukraine said the 25-year-old, identified in France as Gregoire Moutaux, was planning to attack locations including mosques and synagogues before and during the tournament.
