SPORTS> Tournament News
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SPORTS> Tournament News
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German police stick to plans despite stabbings
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-05-30 09:11 BERLIN, May 29 - Berlin's police chief insisted on Monday there was no need to tighten World Cup security plans after a drunken youth stabbed more than 30 people at a street party in the German capital last week.
"We are as prepared as we can be. A person running amok is not the typical situation we have to expect," Dieter Glietsch told a news conference 11 days before the World Cup, during which Berlin will host six matches, including the final. Security preparations for the 32-nation tournament have focused on terrorism, hooliganism and petty crime, but Friday's incident reignited concern about how police will keep order, especially at hundreds of "public viewing areas" across Germany where crowds will gather to watch matches on giant screens. Police said about 35 people had received stab wounds or other injuries after a youth went on the rampage with a knife at firework celebrations on Friday night to mark the opening of Berlin's new central train station. Most have received preventative treatment for the HIV virus that causes AIDS, after it emerged that one of the first people to be stabbed was HIV-positive. A 16-year-old schoolboy has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. Witness accounts said the attacker was very drunk. But Glietsch said this was no reason to ban the sale of alcohol to partying soccer fans near Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, the planned focus of World Cup festivities in the centre of the capital. "That would be an over-reaction," he said, while adding that police could order only low-alcohol beer to be sold if there was reason to expect fan trouble at a particular game. Berlin is due to host the Ecuador-Germany, Sweden-Paraguay, Brazil-Croatia and Ukraine-Tunisia group matches, as well as a quarter-final and the July 9 final.
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