A Tense Europe Tightens Security

By Vivienne Walt | SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

September 16, 2001

Paris - In an attempt to thwart any attack in Europe similar to Tuesday's airliner crashes in the United States, officials on the continent have tightened security rules on air travel and have detained and questioned numerous people thought to have connections with extremist terrorist networks.

Among those arrested in Belgium on Friday was a man allegedly planning to attack the U.S. Embassy in Paris, according to a report yesterday by Europe-1 Radio here. The report indicated only that the man was in his 30s and of North African origin. Embassy spokesman Richard Lankford declined to comment.

Besides threats on the ground, officials scrambled to close security gaps in the air as international carriers were allowed back into the United States and airports began to fill with travelers.

"We're in a very tense situation here," said Franck Durincks of Belgium, chairman of the European Civil Aviation Conference, which sets safety policies for 38 countries. The organization gathered all 15 European Union transport ministers to review security on Friday.

Unlike the United States, Europe has long banned curbside check-in and restricts gate access to passengers. Since Tuesday, Britain has required passengers who touch down during flights within Europe to collect their bags and check them in again. German officials are considering putting special locks on cockpits and have placed armed border police in airports.

Airlines have issued lists of banned articles, including toy or replica guns, household cutlery - including knives of any kind - letter openers, corkscrews with blades, slingshots, razor blades, tradesmen's tools, darts, scissors, knitting needles and sports goods such as rackets, bats, golf clubs and pool cues. Travelers who need hypodermic needles for medical reasons were asked for proof.

On Friday, a day after police in Hamburg, Germany, questioned a man and a woman who may have known Tuesday's suicide hijackers, a man described by police as a Muslim with Mideast ties was detained in London. In France, security and judicial police questioned about six people described by a Paris-based anti-terrorism source as "Muslim fundamentalists." There reportedly were eight arrests on Friday in Brussels and Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Amid the investigation, European politicians rushed to assure their citizens they were not conducting a witch hunt against Muslims, millions of whom are immigrants to the continent, especially in Britain and France. French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin told reporters Friday that Europe is "not at war against Islam or the Arab-Muslim world."

Talk of a "war" by President George W. Bush and his officials in recent days has alarmed some Muslim groups on the continent. "We are afraid of the reprisals," said Faycal Jalloul, Paris correspondent for the London-based Arabic magazine Al-Wasat. "Everyone is talking about reciprocating. But the public does not make distinctions between terrorists and the Arab community."

Despite sensitivities about civil rights, reverberations from Tuesday's attacks might end the easy unity Europe has enjoyed through the 1990s. European politicians are pushing for greater arrest powers, with a well-coordinated Europe-wide police force.

This story was supplemented with wire service reports.