Football fans to have faces scanned by police at Cardiff and Swansea City derby

Fans have slammed a decision to allow police to use facial recognition technology at today’s Cardiff and Swansea City Premier League clash.

Supporters attending the match, which kicks off at Swansea’s Liberty Stadium at 12pm, will be actively scanned by facial recognition cameras in order to identify ‘potential troublemakers’.

The technology works by flagging known offenders whose photos are already on police databases.

But angry fans have promised to wear ‘Halloween masks’ in protest at the surveillance technology.

It is the first use of the controversial facial scanners since a 2017 UEFA Champions’ League match, when more than 2,500 innocent fans were incorrectly flagged by the system and their photos sent to police.

South Wales Police blamed the errors on a ‘poor quality of images’ from Uefa and Interpol watchlists, while also claiming it was the first use of the technology.

The reintroduction of the software comes after a Cardiff high court ruling last month, when a judge ruled police use of facial recognition was legal.

Vince Alms, spokesperson for Football Supporters’ Association Wales, has strongly condemned use of the technology in today’s match.

He said: ‘We strongly oppose the police decision to use facial recognition. It’s just a local football match, yet we haven’t had a say and we can’t opt out.

‘Thousands of innocent fans who have never committed a crime in their lives, including children, will have their faces scanned and data collected by police.

‘It’s the sort of thing you’d expect to see in a surveillance state.’

The south Wales derby has been a historically tense game.

When Cardiff won a League Cup game at Swansea in September 1988, about 50 Swansea fans reportedly chased around 30 Cardiff supporters into the Bristol Channel.

Three years later, 39 fans were arrested when fans fought at an FA Cup clash at Swansea.

The two teams have not played each other for five years.

Rights groups have also criticised the technology.

Big Brother Watch, a privacy campaigning group, are pursuing a crowdfunded legal challenge against the Metropolitan Police and Home Secretary over their use of facial recognition surveillance.

Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, said: ‘We stand by fans who are rightly alarmed and outraged.

‘The police decision to target them with intrusive mass surveillance treats all fans as suspects, damages trust and is a total waste of public money.

‘Police are eroding basic civil liberties whilst politicians look the other way.’