Rio de Janeiro, April 18 (IANS) The CEO of the 2014 Brazil World Cup Local Organising Committee (LOC) said Friday that the federal government and the state are well prepared to tackle protests in case these break out during this football showpiece event.
Ricardo Trade told Xinhua that Brazil is almost ready with less than two months left before the start of the World Cup.
"The focus now is to prepare the operational things and bring in the test event," said Trade.
This week the new World Cup stadium at Sao Paulo, due to stage the opener June 12, was handed over to owners Corinthians.
Of the 12 stadiums, six were scheduled to be ready by the end of last year but missed FIFA's deadline. The other six have already been used during the Confederations Cup.
"We are not only going to test the six (new) cities, but also Brasilia, because Brasilia hosted only one match during the Confederation Cup," said Trade.
Another concern for the LOC now is the possibility of widespread street protests, which happened during the Confederation Cup with demonstrators unhappy about corruption, poor public services and the billions of dollars being spent to host the World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.
"It's possible to have another protest there this summer. We are against the violence. It's not good for our image of the country, but people have their right to protest and ask for more health and education," said Trade.
"The only thing is that the government gives FIFA the guarantee that this kind of actions will not hinder the fans and players from arriving in the stadium," he added.
Trade said the World Cup would be a huge legacy for Brazil.
"We are using this opportunity to improve our tele-communication, mobility, airport, security issues and so on. The achievement will go beyond the World Cup."
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