The World Cup championship match between Brazil and Germany on Sunday is expected to draw more than 30 state dignitaries to Yokohama for the grand finale of the month-long premier soccer tournament, according to a report by Japanese news agency Kyodo on Friday.
Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will head the VIP lineup.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, representing the two co-host countries, are scheduled to attend the match, along with German President Johannes Rau, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and other government leaders.
The presence of the state dignitaries will add to the already tight security around the International Stadium Yokohama, along with large-scale traffic controls and police patrols on the streets and in the air.
Kanagawa prefectural police will be mobilizing 7,400 officers for security around Yokohama on Sunday.
To move the state dignitaries between Tokyo and Yokohama, the police plans to close major thoroughfares in Yokohama for two hours before the match and another two hours after the end of the game.
And there will be police officers on patrol along the routes used by VIP motorcades as precautions against terrorist attacks. Police helicopters will be patrolling the skies.
Apart from guarding the VIPs from a possible terrorist attack, the Kanagawa police will also have a handful in crowd control, particularly the huge number of Brazilian soccer fans in the 250,000 Brazilian community in Japan.
According to Kanagawa police, about 7,000 Brazilians watched the semi-final match between Brazil and Turkey in Saitama, Japan on Wednesday.
The police expects a bigger turnout in the final, which kicks off at 8 p.m. on Sunday, the news agency reported.
Editor: May
Source: Xinhua
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