Euro 2008 co-hosts Austria tighten hooligan laws

VIENNA, June 20 (Reuters) The Austrian government has agreed to introduce new anti-hooligan measures to deal with potential local troublemakers at next year's European Championship finals.

Following a cabinet meeting today, the government announced that known hooligans would be told to report to police stations four hours before particular matches in an effort to stop them causing trouble at stadiums.

The new rules, which still need parliamentary approval, were originally criticised by Justice Minister Maria Berger who said the concept of ''preventative custody'' could violate civil liberties.

Berger said today that the phrase had been removed from the government's new wording, which instead calls for past offenders to be lectured on Austrian law during their visit to the police station.

Austria and neighbouring Switzerland are staging the 2008 tournament which runs from June 7-29.

Switzerland has already introduced similar anti-hooligan measures which came into force at the start of this year.

Reuters TB DB2106