Snipers, sniffer dogs and extra searches "will anchor the biggest security operation seen at a sporting event in the country when France play Italy in their opening Six Nations game at the Stade de France," according to Gavin Mortimer of the London GUARDIAN. The match will be the first sporting event to be held at the national stadium since "it was targeted by terrorists" on Nov. 13. Security at the Stade de France had already been strengthened following the attacks in Paris in Jan. '15, and "it is being increased further." The "clampdown will begin when bomb disposal teams sweep the stadium and its environs on Friday; the police presence will be more than doubled for the tournament’s opening game." The "man in charge of the Stade de France operation is Robert Broussard." In the early '70s he was one of the "leading figures in the Brigade de Recherche et d’Intervention, the elite police unit who are in the vanguard of the fight against terrorism." Advising those with tickets "to arrive in plenty of time" to pass through the security checks, Broussard said, "Our objective is that people will come feeling confident." While Broussard is in charge of security inside the stadium, "outside is the domain of the police." The police chief responsible for securing the area outside the Stade de France, Laurent Simonin, said, "We've moved from a system geared to controlling crowds and hooliganism to a system aimed at stopping terrorist attacks" (GUARDIAN, 2/1).
