The Paris Summer Olympics will take place from 26 July to 11 August 2024
Now, three months before the international games, French authorities are particularly concerned to ensure the safety of the public and the thousands of athletes who will be travelling to Paris. However, a report from a meeting of the Olympic and Paralympic Games ministerial committee traces the organizing committee’s shortcomings on security issues.
Earlier, President Macron said that if the Olympics were in danger of being disrupted due to security risks, alternative solutions to the problem would be deployed. For the first time in the history of the Games, the opening ceremony is to take place on the Seine embankment rather than in a stadium. Athletes’ delegations will be transported by boat along the river to the Trocadero square. If there are difficulties in ensuring that the opening ceremony is held quietly, the organizers of the ceremony are going to “replay” the situation and use plan “B” and plan “C” in real time. According to the original scenario, about 600,000 people were supposed to watch the boats with the athletes, but due to security threats the number of spectators was decided to halve.
After the terrorist attack in Moscow’s Crocus, the highest level of terrorist danger was introduced in France. Meanwhile, the Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, ignoring the recommendations of the security services, is not going to cancel the opening ceremony, but claims a shortage of security personnel. To ensure the peaceful conduct of the event, the option of involving police and gendarmes is being considered. Despite the threats being discussed, the IOC has declared confidence in the French authorities on the security of the Olympics.
Paris reports all sorts of provocations that could disrupt the opening, but so far cannot provide the necessary level of security for guests and participants of the event.