ANPThe Olympic logo for the Paris City Hall
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 11:20
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Frank Renout
France correspondent
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Frank Renout
France correspondent
“Nothing is impossible, but it does get complicated,” said Julien Schenardi, director of Alliance, one of the largest police unions in France. It stands opposite the Eiffel Tower and overlooks the Seine, where the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games will be held on July 26. “More than 40,000 police officers will be deployed on that opening day alone. They have to be brought in from everywhere: from Paris, but also from other parts of France.”
Another six months and then the Olympic Games will start in Paris. This leads to worries and sometimes even mild panic. More than 13 million visitors are expected and France continues to face the threat of terrorist attacks.
The great security stresswrote dagblad Les Echos about security. “The opening ceremony on the Seine seems to me to be a very big risk factor,” said the right-wing opposition leader Eric Ciotti.
Boat trip of 6 kilometers
The opening ceremony is a trip by the participants on boats across the Seine, passing all the monuments such as Notre-Dame, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. It is a stretch of six kilometers, on the water, with around half a million visitors expected on the quays around it.
“That’s what makes it so complicated,” says Schenardi. “Normally the opening ceremonies are indoors, in a stadium for example. Then you can keep a lot under control. Now it is in the open air. Then you have to take a lot of risks into account.”
Members of the Alliance police union argued on January 18 for better pay for their mandatory extra efforts during the Games:
AFPLembers of the Alliance police union demonstrated on January 18 for extra pay during the Games
And those risks are there. Intelligence services warn that France is still threatened by terrorists. The war between Israel and Hamas is also causing tensions in France. And almost a year ago there were large-scale riots in the suburbs and the flames could easily flare up again, experts say.
That is why extreme security measures are taken. Special zones are set up in Paris where car traffic is banned or restricted. Residents and entrepreneurs must apply for a special pass to drive there. This concerns a wide strip along the Seine during the opening. And during the entire Games, the area between the Champs-Élysées, the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre is a ‘red zone’.
AFPDe Phryges, the mascots for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, near the Seine
Various opinion polls show that the French are not entirely positive about the Games in their capital. In november 44 percent of Parisians said they were against: twice as many as in 2021.
According to a poll this month 65 percent of French people say they are concerned about safety, 59 percent about construction work (and whether everything will be completed on time) and even 74 percent about transportation.
Paris streets will be partly closed during the Games, metro tickets will become more expensive and the public transport network will be overloaded with more than 13 million tourists, it is feared.
And that fear is not completely unfounded. The Minister of Transport was asked last month to the expected crowds and the load on trains, metros, buses and trams. His advice: the Parisians themselves might be better off working from home or going on holiday during the Olympics.
2024-01-27 10:20:02
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