Bangalore police commissioner Shankar Bidari was vociferous in defence of his colleagues who used force to disperse the huge crowd that came to purchase tickets for the India-England World Cup match in Bangalore on Thursday.
"Sometimes to avoid greater injury, you have to handle minor injuries," Bidari said on Friday.
- Images: Police, fans clash outside Chinnaswamy
He pointed out that the fans were to be blamed for the injuries they suffered after his policemen resorted to lathi charge.
"It was due to jostling amongst the crowd. If we would have used force, there could have been a stampede," said Bidari.
Asked by an English journalist whether the police action was excessive, since the fans had come to buy match tickets, Bidari shot back: "In India the dynamics are different and people from European countries will not understand it. We face similar type of reactions every time Rajkumar's movie is released. So we are used to it and even the fans are used to it!"
For Sunday's match, a tight security blanket, of around 3000 policemen, will cover the Chinnaswamy stadium.
Bidari also requested fans to turn up at least four hours before the start of the match.
"We will conduct thorough frisking of all spectators before they enter the stadium. So, keeping this thing in mind, we will open the gates of the stadium for fans at 10.30 am, four hours before the start of the match.
"Therefore, we advice spectators to come in early, as lot of time might be consumed in checking each and every person," he added.
