Rio de Janeiro (19 June 2014) - The Brazilian federal government, together with Rio's safety authorities, FIFA and the Local Organising Committee (LOC), are assessing operational adjustments to be adopted at the Maracanã stadium on match days. The assessment comes after the incident before the match between Chile and Spain, when Chilean fans broke through a fence that delimits the restricted perimeter and stormed the stadium’s media centre. In a press conference held today, the Special Secretary of Safety and Security for Major Events of the Ministry of Justice, Andrei Rodrigues, said that assessment meetings after each event are routine and that the protocols adopted before the World Cup are working well.

“The meetings are at the operational level, held together with the LOC and FIFA, so that we can define what will be done operationally. The protocols are in place. The issue to be evaluated is at the detailed operational level. We have defined and will adjust these procedures to ensure we have an even more coordinated approach and a calmer atmosphere at the stadium," said Secretary Andrei Rodrigues.

The new procedures will already be in place for the match between Belgium and Russia this Saturday. "We have a standard planning assessment procedure for all matches, national team movements, training sessions and other events. We look at the planning in place and determine if it is adequate or if anything needs to be improved. This is routine. When problems are identified, we take corrective action. The same happens here at Maracanã. We will certainly have some new operational definitions tomorrow," said Secretary Andrei Rodrigues.

The safety and security plan for the World Cup arenas provides that the private agents (stewards) are responsible for operating the gates and internal areas of the stadiums, but allows them to trigger support from public safety authorities in case of necessity. The actions are coordinated by the regional and national command centres. The Security General Manager of the Local Organising Committee (LOC), Hilario Medeiros, said that over a thousand stewards were deployed for the match between Spain and Chile, and that the actions taken to stop the Chilean fans occurred without violence.

“The standard operating procedure was adopted. The stewards contained the situation without violence, and public authorities also worked very well. The problem occurred, but the contingency plans were implemented and the problem was circumvented. All parties involved are working to ensure events like this do not happen again. But we are discussing operational matters, not infrastructure ones, so the fixes will already be in place for the next match," he explained.

Secretary Andrei Rodrigues also highlighted the cooperation with the police forces of the 31 other countries that have national teams participating in the World Cup. “We are cooperating with police forces from the 31 other countries of the World Cup and from other nations, with more than 200 foreign police officers present in Brazil to provide assistance. We exchanged information, and some agents from these countries are personally monitoring their fans. None of these agents have gun permits or police power. They are only following the Brazilian police, helping them approach fans and facilitating the work of our agents.”

The fans detained after the storming of the Maracanã Media Centre were detained and officially notified. They have a maximum of 72 hours to leave the country, and will be deported if they fail to do so. According to Secretary Andrei Rodrigues, the decision is grounded in Brazilian law (the Estatuto do Estrangeiro, or Foreigner's Statute).

Source: Secretariat for Social Communication of the Presidency of the Republic (SECOM) 

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For more information, visit:
www.copa2014.gov.br/cam (Português)
www.copa2014.gov.br/en/cam (English)