Cricket Australia assures fans over Boxing Day security fears at the MCG

After a series of terror-related arrests in Melbourne late on Thursday night, Cricket Australia has decided to increase the police presence for the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan in MCG. About a group of 400 police and members of the Australian spy agency conducted overnight raids in homes and suburbs of Melbourne and arrested as many as 6 men and women. All of them was Australian citizens in their early 20s.

Although there have been talks going around that the Boxing Day Test could be targeted, Mr. Graham Ashton, Victoria’s Police chief commissioner stated that police presence will be increased drastically at the MCG for the Test match and also for all the other major events in Victoria during the festive period.

“We’ll see a lot of additional police presence in the CBD particularly, through the Christmas period, right through the new year period,” Graham Ashton was quoted by the ESPN Cricinfo. “We’ve added additional layers of security to the cricket Boxing Day Test. These are precautionary measures but it’s important the community is reassured that we are putting these additional resources in place.

“I took the opportunity to talk to Cricket Australia this morning and had a discussion with them, informing them that we will have an increased police presence for the cricket. But we are doing the planning across the state. So all of those significant events that will be occurring across the state will be complemented by additional police during this period.

“I do stress that there’s no intent, there’s no information suggesting a threat at this time to any of those events. However, we’re just making sure that we’re taking those extra precautions given what we’ve been dealing with over the last couple of weeks in relation to this.”

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland assured the fans that they will do every possible thing to ensure that the fans, players and officials attending the cricket match remain safe and secure.

“Our security team is in contact with the relevant authorities to ensure we have the appropriate level of security at the Boxing Day Test and other cricket matches being held around the country.

“The safety and security of our fans, players, and officials attending any cricket match are our number one priority. We applaud Victoria Police for their efforts this morning in neutralising the threat and we will continue to work with the relevant authorities to ensure the highest security standards and protocols are maintained,” Sutherland concluded.