Up to 82 workers hired to bolster security at Euro 2016 are on French terror watch lists, it has been claimed, as fears grow of an ISIS attack during the event.
Advertisement
Take a trip around Toulouse and the Stadium de Toulouse, which also sports as the rugby capital of France.
Stade de France will host the 2016 Euro Cup opening and final matches.
Tour Nice the lovely and the Stade De Nice which will host four matches during Euro 2016.
Francois Hollande is to visit France’s football squad on Sunday with the president hoping to give “Les Bleus” a boost ahead of Friday’s Euro 2016 curtain raiser against Romania.
But he said the the risk is “not necessarily high” given the massive security operation set to be mounted by the French authorities.
“It’s a threat that exists, and I wouldn’t be in this position as president if I didn’t tell you very clearly that there is a threat”.
France had extended its state of emergency, imposed after the November 13 Paris attacks, through July 26 to cover the July 2-24 Tour de France race.
Hollande said France made a decision to go ahead with Euro 2016 despite two waves of attacks previous year, and make it a “festival for people and for sports”.
The threat of disruption caused by public sector strikes is another concern for the Euro 2016 organisers.
With over one million foreign fans expected to visit France during the competition, Hollande called for disgruntled rail and airline industry staff to put an end to their protests.
French football itself is under scrutiny after Michel Platini, president of the organising European federation UEFA, was kicked out of football for four years for financial misconduct and then star striker Karim Benzema was barred from selection by his own FFF after allegations over a lurid blackmail scandal.
“No-one would understand if the trains or the planes. prevented the smooth transport. of spectators”, Hollande said.
Advertisement
His words chimed with an opinion poll which suggested a majority of French people, for the first time, was opposed to the nationwide protests against planned labour law reforms and which have disrupted fuel supplies and transport services. He is also a broadcaster with Setanta and Eurosport.
