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Bundeswehr to Guard World Cup?

September 13, 2005

The man who could become Germany's next interior minister after Sunday's national election has said he wants to use the country's military to protect train stations, airports and subways during the soccer 2006 World Cup. Günther Beckstein, a member of Bavaria's conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), told Berlin's Der Tagesspiegel newspaper that a massive police presence will help keep sites safe in his home state. Beckstein is a member of the so-called competence team of conservative chancellor candidate Angela Merkel. Beckstein added that he had also planned to prevent people from running onto the field by placing 100 policemen around the pitch. "But the world soccer organization FIFA worried that this would present a martial picture," he said.

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