South African authorities have set up various “special cells” and accelerated judicial processes in order to keep European hooligans at bay during the upcoming FIFA World Cup to be hosted by the country.
South Africa which itself has one of the worst rates of violent crime is beefing up security arrangements keeping in mind the track record of over-zealous English fans who have been known to go on a rampage when their team loses.
South African National Police Commissioner General Bheki Cele said his country was hoping to stop troublemakers before they got to the World Cup, but was concerned that many were already on the move, the Herald Sun reports.
“We have met the intelligence chiefs of Britain I didn’t know that there were countries that had a football police, but we have met the football police and they are giving us information on those fans they won’t let leave their countries (due to prior convictions),” the paper quoted Cele as saying.
The police have also set up special remand and court systems to cope with any arrests during the tournament.
“For those fans that are here, we will have special courts, we will have special cells … if they do anything out of hand, we will put them in the special cells and try them and give them a life sentence if it is serious and let them go home if they are innocent,” he said.
Cele has been a controversial figure in South Africa due to his claims a FIFA official told him that the World Cup is going to be taken away from South Africa due to safety concerns, and for saying that he is praying USA doesn’t make it to the second round so that he could avoid having to host President Obama, the paper reports.
