1 of 6 | French Police close the roads and step up security ahead of the Olympics opening ceremony. Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI | License Photo
Friday’s opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics promised to be like none other, and fears of terrorism have sparked an equally unprecedented security response.
In a departure from the traditional stadium show, athletes and performers cruised on some 90 flotillas down a 3.7-mile stretch of the Seine River with a fully lighted Eiffel Tower in the background. Advertisement
The spectacular event, however, presented a major security risk.
“If there is one event that is under pressure, it’s the Olympic Games,” Christophe Dubi, an International Olympic Committee executive, told the Los Angeles Times.
Officials must be “on the front foot, on tiptoes, being brave,” in the event of a possible terrorist attack, Dubi said.
French officials for years expected the elaborate ceremony would attract around 600,000 spectators, but that number has been slashed due to safety concerns rising from the Israel-Hamas war and growing instability in the Middle East. Advertisement
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said the plan now was to host some 324,000 people along the Seine for the opening ceremony.
The government has deployed 45,000 police officers for the opening ceremony, and 35,000 officers will be on the ground for each day of the Games.
There also will be 10,000 French soldiers deployed in the Paris region supported by 1,800 police officers from around the world, including the United States.
Darmanin earlier this year promised an “anti-terrorism security perimeter” would be erected in the days leading up to the opening ceremony.
That system was created in response to the January 2015 Islamist attack on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12. In November of that year, another armed Islamist group targeted six locations across Paris, killing 130 people and wounding 494.
The security perimeter includes the closure of roads and metro stations along the banks of the Seine with some 44,000 barriers and an elaborate QR code system only accessible for residents and business in the area.
Gen. Eric Chasboeuf, second in command of the military mission for the Games, told CNN that forces also have set up a base in Paris on a scale not seen since World War II. Advertisement
“I’ve never seen such a huge and massive security deployment in our capital, even since the tragic terrorist attempt that we suffered from in 2015,” Chasboeuf said. “It will be completely secure.”
French officials said there haven’t yet been threats made explicitly toward the Games, but they are bracing for the possibility, not just for armed attackers, but also for cyber attacks against the city’s communications and transport grids, as well as the Games’ ticketing system.
A series of arson attacks earlier on Friday sabotaged a large number of trains on France’s high-speed rail system, affecting some 800,000 travelers.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal condemned the attacks, which he said were “prepared and coordinated.”
IOC President Thomas Bach said he did not think the attacks would affect the opening ceremony and that he had “full confidence” in French authorities.
The French government also has banned nearly 4,000 people from attending the Games, including members of the extreme left and extreme right, radical Islamists and suspected radical Islamists.
Officials also are keeping an eye on Russian and Belarusian citizens after the government said it identified a possibly Kremlin-backed online campaign to stoke fears about security for the Games.
French police on Tuesday said they arrested a Russian man on suspicion that he was plotting acts of “destabilization” during the Games. Advertisement
The intense lockdown has led to a drop in tourism in the area, and many business owners hoping for a boom in foot traffic are dismayed by the sight of nearly empty streets.
“It’s a catastrophe,” brasserie owner Fabrice Pierret told the New York Times. “The Olympics were supposed to be great for business. Instead, we’re being hit really hard.”
Despite the interruption to Parisian’s lives, French authorities insist it will be brief but worthwhile, and most of the barricades along the Seine will be removed after Friday’s ceremony.
“I wouldn’t describe it as a nightmare. We’re focused and determined,” Gen. Lionel Catar told the BBC.
Earlier this week, the same unit that responded to the 2015 attacks carried out a mock hostage rescue onboard a bus on the outskirts of Paris.
“We’re feeling impatient. We’ve spent more than two years preparing for these Games,” said unit commander, Simon Riondet. “Let’s hope we will not have to take any action.”
