the security of the celebration sites for the semi-finals and the final reinforced

While France is on “emergency attack” alert, after the terrorist attack in a high school in Arras (Pas-de-Calais), the Minister of the Interior asked the prefects, Wednesday October 18, to raise the level of securing the celebration sites for the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The competition enters the semi-final phase, with the final scheduled for October 28. This concerns fan zones and rugby villages set up throughout the territory.

In a telegram which franceinfo has seen, Gérald Darmanin explains that the objective of this strengthening of security has “the objective is the prevention of acts of terrorism, but also the continuity of activity and the preservation of the popularity of the event despite the international and national context”.

Favor enclosed spaces for new fan zones

“If the next matches will take place exclusively at the Stade de France, maximum security must be put in place for all associated events”, insists the minister in this document. For rugby villages, he asks for a “very broad mobilization of internal security forces to secure transport both in Île-de-France and in all the territories welcoming them”.

On each site, there must be in particular “an intervention column of specialized forces and a mine clearance/dog crew pair”. Regarding other fan zones, if new ones were to be created, the minister asks to favor enclosed places (sports grounds, municipal halls, etc.), with reinforced controls.