France to keep 'fan zones' at Euro2016 championships

PARIS (Reuters) - France plans to maintain public areas for thousands of soccer supporters to watch games on big screens at the European soccer championship next year despite security fears following the Paris attacks.





Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said after a security briefing on Tuesday that security would be reinforced but "the popular dimension of this competition should not be penalised by the current context."

Sports minister Patrick Kanner said that with retention of the so-called fan zones "we want to tell the French people and...foreigners that everything is under control."

In Paris, the zone is expected to have a 120,000 capacity and will be situated on the Champs de Mars, below the Eiffel Tower.

France has been in a state of emergency since coordinated attacks, claimed by Islamic State, on bars, restaurants, a concert hall and a soccer stadium killed 130 and injured over 350.

The Euro2016 finals will be played from June 10 to July 10 in 10 French cities: Paris, Saint-Denis, Lens, Lille, Bordeaux, Marseille, Lyon, Saint-Etienne, Toulouse and Nice.





(Reporting by Julien Pretot and Simon Carraud; Editing by Ralph Boulton)


Share

1 min read

Published

Updated

Source: Reuters



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world