“The terrorist threat is real”: France is preparing for the Olympic Games on high alert

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced this Monday that two attack projects have been “thwarted” in France since the beginning of 2024 and that the country is on high alert for the Olympic Games.

“The threat of Islamic terrorism is real, it is strong” and “it has never weakened,” Attal added during a visit to a Paris train station after the Vigipirate alert system was raised to its maximum level.

Thus, four months before the Olympic Games (OJ), France is again on high alert for the threat of attacks following Friday’s attack in Moscow, carried out, according to French President Emmanuel Macron, by the “jihadist” group “Islamic State” (IS), which initiated “several recent attacks” on French territory.

As it prepares to organize the world sporting event in Paris from July 26 to August 11, the French government, for which security was already a top concern, wants to show it is taking the threat seriously while at the same time reassuring the population in your ability to control it.

French police, national guards and intelligence services “will be ready” to guarantee the security of the Olympic Games, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said today.

The French chief executive decided on Sunday evening at the Defense Council at the Elysee Palace (the headquarters of the President of the Republic) to raise the Vigipirate system to its maximum level, “extraordinary attack”, just over two months after it cut one level.

The prime minister justified the decision by saying he “took responsibility for the attack” that left at least 137 people dead and 182 injured at a concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow on Friday night by Islamic State, and that that the “Islamic State” is a threat that hangs over France.

The Moscow attack reminded the French of the attacks carried out in November 2015 by commandos from the same “jihadist” group at the Bataclan concert hall during a concert, as well as on the terraces of Parisian cafes and at the National Stadium of France, a total of 130 dead.

In Russia, it is the Afghan branch of the Islamic State in Khorasan (IS-K), a prime suspect among global terrorism experts, even as Russian President Vladimir Putin points the finger at Ukraine.

“The information” held by the French intelligence services, as well as that of their “main partners, indicates that it was in fact an organization from the EI group that facilitated and carried out this attack,” Macron said this Monday upon his arrival in France Guiana on a two-day visit.

The French head of state warned Moscow against “any instrumentalization” or attempts to “use this context to try to turn it against Ukraine.”

EI-K, “which appears to be involved in this attack, has made several attacks on our territory in recent months,” Macron explained to the press.

“Thus, taking into account its implications and intentions, as a precautionary measure, but with credible and solid elements,” it was “decided to increase the level of Vigipirate,” which was lowered in January, he added.

At the request of the Prime Minister, the Secretary General of Defense and National Security reporting to him has convened a meeting with all security agencies this Monday.

The Directorate General of Internal Security (DGSI) will gather on Thursday morning “all representatives of the secret services” to “determine all the consequences of the attack in Moscow,” Gérald Darmanin said this Monday.

“We prevent terrorist attacks almost every month,” the interior minister emphasized, emphasizing that the “Islamist threat” could “affect the whole world at any time, not just France.”

For example, “almost 130” secondary schools in the country have been the target of threats of attacks and “malicious activities” via computer networks since last week, the Ministry of Education said.

The French government intends to deploy 45,000 internal security forces in the Paris area for the Olympic opening ceremony, including elite units. Spectator capacity was reduced by almost half – 326 thousand people.