Ensuring the safety of the 328,000 spectators, officials and international representatives has been the major challenge for the organisation. In the past few days, two people have been arrested in Paris and seven in Belgium, on suspicion of violent plans against the Olympic Games.
“We are ready, it will be a dazzling spectacle, which will make the country proud, which will bring happiness to the whole world,” said French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra on Thursday, just hours before the big event. Olympic Games opening ceremony which will be held this afternoon, starting at 19:30 hours. A Boat parade on the Seine in the monumental centre of Paris, where nearly 200 boats, carrying some 8,000 athletes and security and support boats, will travel for six kilometres between the Austerlitz and Jena bridges.
The last bridge connects the Eiffel Tower to the Trocadero Gardens, where stands have been built for the most important guests and where the final and most important part of the four-hour show will take place. In addition to French President Emmanuel Macron and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, up to a hundred heads of state and government, as well as leaders of international organisations, will be present at the Trocadero.
The ceremony promises originality and spectacularity, but it is also turning out to be a nightmare for the security, the Logistics and the transportation.
Paris is completely sealed offand that is guarantee the security In an open space of such magnitude and with such a large attendance (328,000 spectators and a hundred leaders and heads of international organizations) it has been the big challenge that the organizers have faced.
Some 45,000 police officers and gendarmes will be deployed on Friday, along with some 10,000 soldiers and several thousand private security guards.
Strict surveillance has already been seen around some sports delegations, and special units of the National Police (Raid) and the Gendarmerie (CIGN) are giving special protection to athletes from “sensitive” countries, such as Israel, the United States, Ukraine, Palestine or Iran.
Buildings on the banks of the Seine have been the subject of special attention. Residents and visitors (whether in homes, hotels or offices) have been under surveillance in recent days and there will be agents and snipers on the roofs.
In addition, Paris airspace will be closed on Friday between 6.30pm and midnight. This closure will apply within a 150-kilometre radius around the capital and will mean that the three airports (Orly, Charles de Gaulle and Beauvais) will have to suspend take-offs and landings one hour before they start.
The labyrinth of transport
Transport has also been a source of problems, especially for Parisians or suburban residents who work in the capital.
The area where the ceremony will take place, in the heart of the historic centre of Paris, is closed off with 44,000 barriers and to pass through you need to have a specific QR code.
Several metro stations in the city centre have also been temporarily closed, with many streets and squares closed to traffic, severely limiting tourists’ options.
And where traffic is permitted, special ‘Olympic’ lanes have been established – marked with blue lines – for the passage of athletes and VIPs, which condemns the rest of the traffic to even bigger traffic jams than usual.
Even the Paris ring road, which encircles the city like a ring, will be heavily restricted today and could even be closed entirely, Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete warned on Thursday.
Several people arrested this week
French authorities arrested an 18-year-old man on Thursday suspected of collaborating with a teenager arrested Tuesday in the Gironde department for an alleged “plan of violent action” against the Olympic Games, which officially begin this Friday in Paris.
Another 18-year-old was arrested on Tuesday in Gironde accused of planning a terrorist attack just days before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris. The security forces have taken him into custody and accused him of “terrorist criminal association with a view to preparing one or more offences of personal injury.”
According to the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office, the two detainees maintained contacts on social networks and in real life. The investigation by the Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office must now determine how real the plans of both detainees to carry out an attack during the Olympic Games were, although exchanges of messages on social networks had been detected that aroused the concern of the authorities.
In addition, other 7 people have been detained as suspects in Belgium in an anti-terrorist operation to protect the Olympics. The authorities intervened on the eve of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics because the Olympic event is a “potential target”, although so far There is no indication that the suspects specifically wanted to attack the Games.sources close to the investigation have indicated.
The arrests were made as part of a European operation coordinated by several judicial and intelligence authorities.
French and Swiss police have been carrying out an “exceptional control operation” since Thursday along the 570-kilometre border between the two countries to combat cross-border crime and customs fraud in the context of the Paris Olympic Games.
Police and gendarmerie officers have reinforced their usual customs surveillance posts in an “unprecedented” operation, the Swiss Federal Customs Office said in a statement.
Source: Eitb
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