The wave of terrorism certainly hit Europe at large in 2016. And, still
various intelligence and media reports insinuate that the ISIS jihadists are in
Europe to plot " brutal 2017 slaughter across Europe to spark
apocalypse".
According to the Europol, the European Union Law Enforcement Agency, all
the EU member states participating in the coalition against Islamic State are
regarded by the subsequent terrorist organisation as "legitimate
targets." In a report published last month the Agency also opined that in
the wake of murderous attacks in Belgium and France in 2016 extremists are very
likely to strike again in the near future.
Those attacks, most horribly the shootout and bombings outside the Sate
de France, were the product of the ISIS who was all proud to take credit for
the events, as well as threaten further the globe with more similar kind of
tragedies. The Paris attack 2015 was the first time that a major game venue had
been targeted for sports terrorism in Europe during the last 40 years. And, with
so many football matches occurring in stadium in each UEFA member states leaves
the public wondering "could we be the next"?
The Europol report identified few countries by stating: "France
remains high in the target list for ISIS aggression in the EU, but so do
Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom." These are all leading
UEFA members having the best and richest domestic football league fixtures of
the world in terms of business, popularity, TV audience as well as stadium
spectatorships. Analysts believe those who have managed to enter the EU -- in
the shape of refugees and immigrants -- pose a potential security risk for the
Union. "Given the high numbers involved, this represents a significant and
long term security challenge", a security expert says.
The ISIS spokesman magazine Dabiq on the other hand also called for
lone-wolf attacks throughout Europe as "final, apocalyptic showdown"
in the forthcoming days.
Ever since the number of attacks on big game events and sports related
activities in the world has grown, the sports-going public is also getting
aware about the risks of participating in public sports events. Europe that
contributes a sizable chunk in global sports in terms of both events and
business may naturally be traded in fear
because of these threats and alerts. But sports must go on and there is
no justification to alter the schedules, capacity of spectatorship and standards
of facilities to the fans. However, the fans and spectators must be earlier briefed
and equipped about particular set of prescribed guidelines of situational
awareness in case of any emergency situation.
Therefore there is still a sizable coordination and effectiveness required
between this situational awareness on behalf of public and operational planning by authorities . As
an example, the barrier between sportsmen and their fans has widened and
hardened on the name of security these days, for which the later needs to be
made confidant in this regards to restrict them from violence and vandalism.
Athletes and footballers are similarly on occasions required to carry ID cards
to board their own team buses, and may hire their own security details. That
doesn't implicate every fan as a potential threat or every athlete as a potential
fraud, it is just the modern demands of sports security.
Acknowledging the scale of threat in
Europe, the Europol Director Rob Wainwright says "The last two years have
seen a number of jihadist attacks, several of which have caused mass
casualties." And, it was witnessed in 2016 that majority of these attacks
were carried out in sports related events or in public mass gatherings. That's why situational awareness can be an
additional safety mechanism if not the solution of this problem.
By
M. Wasim
mwasim.370@gmail.com
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