Paris is deploying 35,000 police officers per day for the Olympics, which run from Friday to August 11, with a peak of 45,000 for the opening ceremony on the Seine.
The French interior minister has said there is no concrete threat to the Paris Olympics, just days before they open.
However, Gerald Darmanin said more than 4,300 people had been prevented from attending the Olympic Games for various reasons.
These people have been pinned “due to risks of interference, because they were listed for radicalization (far right, far left or radical Islam) or because they had a criminal record”he said.
It is one of the security challenges that Paris is working to address as part of its goal of ensuring the Games are safe for athletes and fans.
About a million background checks have been conducted on Olympic volunteers, workers and others involved in the Games, as well as on applicants for passes to enter Paris’s most tightly controlled security zone along the banks of the Seine.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Tuesday that checks had prevented about 5,000 people from attending the opening ceremony on the river on Friday. Among them, ” There are 1,000 people we suspect of foreign interference – we can talk about espionage “, added Mr. Darmanin.
He added that “interference and manipulation of information” came not only from Russia, but also from other countries, which he did not name. He also did not provide further information on the alleged interference.
In addition, a Russian, born in 1984, suspected of “to organize events likely to cause destabilization during the Olympic Games” was indicted and placed in provisional detention on Tuesday, the Paris prosecutor’s office said, confirming information from the newspaper Le Parisien.
Ukrainian and Israeli delegations under special protection
Paris is deploying 35,000 police officers per day for the Olympics, which run until Sunday, August 11, with a peak of 45,000 for the opening ceremony on the Seine. In addition, 10,000 soldiers are participating to security operations in the Paris region.
France is also receiving aid from more than 40 countries, which together have sent at least 1,900 police reinforcements.
“Of course, we are particularly protecting the Ukrainian team, which is clearly under great threat.”said Mr. Darmanin.
The interior minister had previously said that Israeli athletes would be protected around the clock by the police’s elite unit, the GIGN, which is responsible for combating terrorism and protecting civil servants.
“Your task will not be easy”
Mr. Darmanin also praised the security work of tens of thousands of police officers, firefighters, bomb disposal experts, intelligence agents and private security personnel.
In a handwritten note addressed to them, Mr. Darmanin stated that “ the biggest global event that a country can organize” had “finally” arrived after four years of preparation, while highlighting the unprecedented security challenges.
” Your task will not be easy “, Mr. Darmanin said in the letter published on the social platform X late Monday. Paris has suffered several deadly extremist attacks and international tensions are high due to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
ADVERTISEMENTOlympic organizers are also concerned about cyberattacks, while human rights advocates and critics of the Games worry about Paris’ use of AI-enabled surveillance technologies and the scope and scale of Olympic security, which they fear could remain in place beyond the Olympics.
Rather than building an Olympic park with venues clustered outside the city centre, like Rio de Janeiro in 2016 or London in 2012, Paris has chosen to host many events in the heart of the capital, with others scattered across nearby suburbs.
The installation of temporary sports arenas in public spaces and the organisation of the opening ceremony along the Seine make these protections more complex.
Note that other cities are hosting events in France. These include Lyon, Lille, Marseille, Nice, Nantes, Bordeaux and Saint-Étienne. Overseas, Tahiti will host the surfing events.
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