European Forum for Urban Safety: Large public events & Party scenes

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Extracts from the Zaragoza Manifesto (2006) Workshop on ''Large events'' Cities regularly host large sports, cultural or festive events that necessitate concentrations of means raising the question of safety management. These events are also revealing as to existing situations of insecurity. In addition to manifestations of hooliganism or violence, they generate concentrations of crime to be handled, such as human trafficking for sexual exploitation, drug trafficking, excessive consumption of alcohol, illegal employment or thefts. However, the event also represents an opportunity to bring out positive social policies and a lever for catalysing energies to carry out social or pedagogical programmes, and can be a special vector for the diffusion of democratic values. The wager is to establish an equilibrium between the event’s necessary conviviality and the indispensable safety for the participants as well as for the inhabitants of the host city. Cities want the accumulated experience to be mutualised so that prevention arrangements accompany the organisation of events. The better prepared they are with the participation of the city’s kinetic energy, by including the underprivileged populations in the form of jobs, training programmes and access to the activity, the more will safety be ensured for the whole community. Given the scope that football has attained in all countries, related events warrant particular attention, especially in policies for violence prevention organised on that occasion, and in particular for fighting racism. The fan clubs constitute key players in this prevention and, with the support of the clubs and the UEFA, can develop positives trans-national actions in partnership with the cities, whilst associating amateur football at the local level. The European Union must help local authorities to produce a mission statement and, above all, to adopt structural measures in order to implement these preventive initiatives during large sports and cultural events. Workshop on “Large sports events and prevention” Sports events mobilize a large public and give rise to close media attention, all in a positive climate : national competitions generate a permanent passion, and large international sports tournaments - notably those concerning football - are one-time occasions for meeting people, interacting socially and fraternizing with citizens from around the world. Security constitutes a major factor as regards these events. In order to guarantee effective risk management, law and order maintenance measures (deployment of police forces, CCTV) or special legislative control (forbidden access to the event, circulation ban out of the territory, etc.) have been adopted to avoid violence during sports events, the media impact of which can sometimes reach a worldwide level. The fight against insecurity is a serious objective since fatal incidents have occurred in football stadia and games are regularly an opportunity for excesses. Since the 1980s, physical and racist violence have been committed regularly by hooligans and extremists. Their globalization has encouraged the development of international police cooperation, ever more efficient as regards information exchange and individual control. In order to combat violence, repressive measures are not enough and prevention programs have been implemented. Educational actions targeting supporters have been developed in Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands, such as “Fan Coaching” - which illustrates a new element of urban security. During tournaments, since Euro 2000, specific devices have been used such as “Fan embassies” for the event-goers hosted by the organizing country. Supporters are key actors in prevention and several local or national associations develop their own public awareness campaigns against violence or racism, or even initiate prevention actions with an educational purpose, for example the AFEPE in Spain, the FAS in France or ”Fair Fans” in Denmark. Other remarkable moves such as “Foot-Citoyen” (“citizen-football”) aim at putting the positive resources of professional sports at the service of amateur sports. Games- and tournaments-organisers, as well as sports clubs and federations, having been released from the problems of spectator safety in public services, are now starting to ensure efficient management through the building of appropriate facilities and a preventive supervision of the crowd through stewarding. At the same time, the socially-orientated British association “Football in the Community” aims at working outside stadia and acting in a useful way within the city by exploiting the symbolic power of sports. Local collectivities, whose role is essential, generally get involved in this field and manage to co-produce prevention with clubs through parternarial actions and to use sports as a violence prevention tool with teenagers, such as in Lille in France or at the Sportjugend-Berlin in Germany. As regards large tournaments, cities are conscious that international sports events constitute a challenge for them and above all an opportunity to mobilize resources for cultural actions or social programs targeting teenagers or deprived areas. In addition to the institutional management ensured by states, an international frame is intended to facilitate political decisions and to give an impulse to local actions, notably the Council of Europe’s Recommendation 2003/1 and Resolution 172, as well as a European prevention booklet aiming to sustain the implementation of operating modes. Even as we try to understand the present, the future is already taking shape. The successful transposition of marketing techniques for large events and the globalisation of communication generate a phenomenal popular craze which implies security management in Public Viewing Areas, where thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of spectators are gathered in front of huge screens and where risks become higher than in stadia, and therefore requires a permanent adaptation of institutional officials, of police forces and urban prevention managers. How can the intervention of the different local and national, public and private partners, politicians and citizens be coherently adjusted within a violence prevention policy in sports, which remains appropriate in the field? How can a balance be found between the safety of the spectators, of the local population and the festive dimension of the event which remains the essence of sports events? How can prevention and educational actions be ‘globalised’ in order to help transform sports events into a display of the necessary respect of essential human values?

Extracts from the Zaragoza Manifesto (2006)

Workshop on ''Large events''

Cities regularly host large sports, cultural or festive events that necessitate concentrations of means raising the question of safety management. These events are also revealing as to existing situations of insecurity. In addition to manifestations of hooliganism or violence, they generate concentrations of crime to be handled, such as human trafficking for sexual exploitation, drug trafficking, excessive consumption of alcohol, illegal employment or thefts.

However, the event also represents an opportunity to bring out positive social policies and a lever for catalysing energies to carry out social or pedagogical programmes, and can be a special vector for the diffusion of democratic values. The wager is to establish an equilibrium between the event’s necessary conviviality and the indispensable safety for the participants as well as for the inhabitants of the host city. Cities want the accumulated experience to be mutualised so that prevention arrangements accompany the organisation of events. The better prepared they are with the participation of the city’s kinetic energy, by including the underprivileged populations in the form of jobs, training programmes and access to the activity, the more will safety be ensured for the whole community.

Given the scope that football has attained in all countries, related events warrant particular attention, especially in policies for violence prevention organised on that occasion, and in particular for fighting racism. The fan clubs constitute key players in this prevention and, with the support of the clubs and the UEFA, can develop positives trans-national actions in partnership with the cities, whilst associating amateur football at the local level.

The European Union must help local authorities to produce a mission statement and, above all, to adopt structural measures in order to implement these preventive initiatives during large sports and cultural events.

Workshop on “Large sports events and prevention”

Sports events mobilize a large public and give rise to close media attention, all in a positive climate : national competitions generate a permanent passion, and large international sports tournaments - notably those concerning football - are one-time occasions for meeting people, interacting socially and fraternizing with citizens from around the world. Security constitutes a major factor as regards these events. In order to guarantee effective risk management, law and order maintenance measures (deployment of police forces, CCTV) or special legislative control (forbidden access to the event, circulation ban out of the territory, etc.) have been adopted to avoid violence during sports events, the media impact of which can sometimes reach a worldwide level.

The fight against insecurity is a serious objective since fatal incidents have occurred in football stadia and games are regularly an opportunity for excesses. Since the 1980s, physical and racist violence have been committed regularly by hooligans and extremists. Their globalization has encouraged the development of international police cooperation, ever more efficient as regards information exchange and individual control. In order to combat violence, repressive measures are not enough and prevention programs have been implemented.

Educational actions targeting supporters have been developed in Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands, such as “Fan Coaching” - which illustrates a new element of urban security. During tournaments, since Euro 2000, specific devices have been used such as “Fan embassies” for the event-goers hosted by the organizing country. Supporters are key actors in prevention and several local or national associations develop their own public awareness campaigns against violence or racism, or even initiate prevention actions with an educational purpose, for example the AFEPE in Spain, the FAS in France or ”Fair Fans” in Denmark. Other remarkable moves such as “Foot-Citoyen” (“citizen-football”) aim at putting the positive resources of professional sports at the service of amateur sports. Games- and tournaments-organisers, as well as sports clubs and federations, having been released from the problems of spectator safety in public services, are now starting to ensure efficient management through the building of appropriate facilities and a preventive supervision of the crowd through stewarding. At the same time, the socially-orientated British association “Football in the Community” aims at working outside stadia and acting in a useful way within the city by exploiting the symbolic power of sports. Local collectivities, whose role is essential, generally get involved in this field and manage to co-produce prevention with clubs through parternarial actions and to use sports as a violence prevention tool with teenagers, such as in Lille in France or at the Sportjugend-Berlin in Germany. As regards large tournaments, cities are conscious that international sports events constitute a challenge for them and above all an opportunity to mobilize resources for cultural actions or social programs targeting teenagers or deprived areas.

In addition to the institutional management ensured by states, an international frame is intended to facilitate political decisions and to give an impulse to local actions, notably the Council of Europe’s Recommendation 2003/1 and Resolution 172, as well as a European prevention booklet aiming to sustain the implementation of operating modes. Even as we try to understand the present, the future is already taking shape. The successful transposition of marketing techniques for large events and the globalisation of communication generate a phenomenal popular craze which implies security management in Public Viewing Areas, where thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of spectators are gathered in front of huge screens and where risks become higher than in stadia, and therefore requires a permanent adaptation of institutional officials, of police forces and urban prevention managers.

How can the intervention of the different local and national, public and private partners, politicians and citizens be coherently adjusted within a violence prevention policy in sports, which remains appropriate in the field? How can a balance be found between the safety of the spectators, of the local population and the festive dimension of the event which remains the essence of sports events? How can prevention and educational actions be ‘globalised’ in order to help transform sports events into a display of the necessary respect of essential human values?