CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP):

South African police averted a second round of potentially violent labour strife yesterday, enabling the FIFA World Cup match between defending champions Italy and Paraguay to start on schedule and proceed free of security hiccups.

A day after riot police used tear gas and rubber bullets to break up a strike by stadium workers in Durban, the national police rushed to prevent any recurrence in Cape Town less than three hours before kick-off. The problem was resolved peacefully this time as authorities succeeded in dispersing a crowd of 500 workers who left their posts.

"Although we have respect for workers' rights, we find it unacceptable for them to disrupt match day proceedings and will not hesitate to take action in such instances," said Danny Jordaan, chief executive of the organising committee.

Colonel Billy Jones, a police spokesman for the Western Cape Region, said the Green Point Stadium's grounds were supposed to open up shortly after 5 p.m. but that 500 security officials congregated on the stadium's second-level terrace in protest.

Employers attempted to negotiate a settlement, but failed, while the queue of fans waiting outside security checkpoints got longer and longer.

"We had to take a decision quickly because we didn't have much time," Jones told The Associated Press. "We told both sides to take their labour dispute out of the stadium."

Jones said the striking security staff heeded police demands to leave peacefully. About 1,500 trainees from the national police were called in to fill the shortfall in manpower at stadium entrances in what was a well-rehearsed contingency plan, he said.

The stand-off caused about an hour of delays for arriving fans, Jones said.