EURO 2008 INFO

Authorities began checking vehicles for suspected football hooligans Monday with Austria tightening security on its borders ahead of the European Championship.

Interior Minister Guenther Platter said the checks at Austria's borders with the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia would last throughout the tournament, which begins Saturday and runs through June 29.

Austria officially dismantled its border posts to facilitate passport-free travel as part of the European Union's Schengen zone. But the agreement lets countries temporarily re-impose border checks on grounds of national security.

Two Austrian Air Force fighters staged a training exercise over central Vienna on Monday, engaging a small private jet in a mock chase, the Defense Ministry said.

Switzerland, which is co-hosting Euro 2008, has also beefed up border checkpoints.

Austrian authorities said border police had a list of known hooligans and were working to intercept those who try to enter the alpine country.

In Salzburg, one of the Austrian venues, officials put up a protective fence around a statue of Mozart to keep fans from climbing on and damaging it.

Police also installed surveillance cameras at match venues and in "fan zones," where people will gather in parks to watch the action on giant screens.

In Solothurn, Switzerland, political activists claimed responsibility Monday for a firework attack on a police building used by Euro 2008 security organizers.

The attack was carried out in the early hours of Saturday to target the Swiss federal department co-ordinating anti-hooligan actions during the tournament. A door was severely damaged but no one was injured.

"The Euro 2008 has little to do with a people's festival but much to do with the commercialization of football, protecting the image of the Swiss financial centre and upgrading the interior security apparatus," the activists said in a statement posted on the left-wing news Web site, Indymedia.

The damaged cantonal (state) police building in the northwestern town of Solothurn had been used by the federal department that will run the Swiss side of the security operations, including a 24-hour intelligence network for security agencies. Its main headquarters are in the capital Bern.

Federal security spokeswoman Anita Panzer said it was the first Euro 2008-related protest against Swiss state forces.

"This incident will be added to the network and analyzed," she said. "If there are hints something similar will happen again, then of course we will react to it."