Germany beefs up border security ahead of UEFA Championship

Germany has been ramping up security measures such as border checks and CCTV surveillance in preparation UEFA European Football Championship which kicks off on Friday.

Police have increased screenings of travelers entering Germany through air or maritime routes, while document checks have been more stringent on German borders with Schengen members such as Denmark, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Police are also using CCTV cameras to monitor crowds at stadiums. Sky News followed officers as they surveilled a group of ultras at a test run match in Gelsenkirchen.

The UEFA tournament is estimated to draw in 2.7 million football fans to stadiums and 12 million more to fan pits. A total of 51 matches will be played in 10 German cities until July 14th.

The heightened security measures were introduced last week following an arrest of a suspected supporter of the Islamic State. The man, who holds German, Moroccan and Polish citizenship, applied to work as a steward at Euro 2024 events but was arrested at the airport on the suspicion of transferring funds to the jihadist group, Deutsche Welle reports.

Security, however, has been an ongoing concern for German authorities. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the nation was preparing for “all conceivable dangers,” including terrorism, hooliganism and cyberattacks. The country has invited some 300 security experts from countries playing in the tournament to monitor the event, according to Al Jazeera.

The country is not the only one that has been ramping up surveillance for new sporting events.

France has been preparing for the Olympics by rolling out AI-powered video surveillance. The system does not use facial recognition but is designed to detect suspicious or potentially dangerous events in real time, including weapons, fire, bodies on the ground, abandoned packages and abnormal crowd behaviors.

During recent months, the surveillance system has been tested at train stations, football matches and other events, including Taylor Swift and Depeche Mode concerts and the Cannes Film Festival. The security measures, however, have been inviting concerns from lawmakers and rights campaigners who warn that AI monitoring could be here to stay.

The French government’s Law Commission has recommended that the experimental technology continues to “test the equipment over all seasons” and during smaller events, Context News reports.

“The Olympics are a huge opportunity to test this type of surveillance under the guise of security issues, and are paving the way to even more intrusive systems such as facial recognition,” Amnesty International’s Katia Roux told the media outlet.

The UK has gone the furthest in securing sporting and other events, deploying live facial recognition technology despite calls to ban the practice. Last week, police deployed the technology at the Formula 1 British Grand Prix in Northamptonshire.

UK police authorities have previously deployed live facial recognition at last year’s Formula 1 event as well as the coronation of King Charles and Beyonce’s concert.

Article Topics

facial recognition  |  France  |  Germany  |  Olympics  |  UK  |  video analytics  |  video surveillance