An “extraordinary” police deployment will ensure the security of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, with 35,000 agents to monitor six kilometers of the Seine River, which will host the “most followed” action in French history.
This was announced on Tuesday by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, who, accompanied by the mayoress of the capital, Anne Hidalgo, and the president of the Organizing Committee, Tony Estanguet, signed the security protocol for that event.
Never, Darmanin assured, France has to face a security challenge like it has to implement on July 26, 2024 from 8:24 pm, when more than a hundred boats that will transport the Olympic delegations begin to navigate the Seine. in an unprecedented ceremony that, for the first time, will take place outside the Olympic Stadium.
In addition to the performance of 10,000 athletes, the ceremony will have an artistic part and a formal partwith two hundred heads of state and government, which will force a major security effort during its three hours.
The minister assured that France will invest about 200 million euros in the security of the ceremony. In recent months, border controls in the Schengen area will be re-established and particular attention will be paid to the terrorist threat.
“The ceremony will attract many people who want to party, but also others who want to cause harm, to destroy the party and we have to stop it”, the mayoress indicated, considering that there is “an artistic challenge, but also organizational and security”.
In the city, 400 new surveillance cameras will be installed in addition to the 4,000 that already exist, and special attention will be given to drones, taking advantage of the French experience in this field, which has already provided advice at the last World Cup in Qatar.
There will also be a special device to monitor possible cyberattacks, Darmanin said, recalling that there were more than 4,000 at the previous Tokyo Games.
From now until the start of the Games, Paris will conduct daily operations against crime, to keep it away from areas where sports competitions are held.
Some 100,000 people will see the ceremony in the lower part of the banks, which will be paid for, while another “hundreds of thousands”, according to the minister, will do so for free in the upper part.
The amount of viewers in that upper part is in question. At first, the organizers were betting on half a million spectators, but the president of the region, Valérie Pécresse, considered that this could soak up public transport.
In recent weeks, various officials have spoken of 400,000 spectators, but the minister did not want to specify the exact number on Tuesday.
The Ministry will launch a digital platform for the registration of those who wish to attend the ceremony for free on the upper part of the river banks.
Estanguet thanked all the administrations for their participation in achieving the “ambition of this ceremony, which aims to surprise” and wants to be “open to the public”.
Throughout the controversy over the price of tickets, which many people, including athletes, consider to be excessive, the president of the Organizing Committee recalled that “for the first time thousands of people will attend an opening ceremony for free. “
He added that “security is the absolute priority” and chose “a show that dreams the world and shows the wonders of the country.”
The mayor recalled that the Games will be “the first major event on the planet after the covid pandemic” and he is convinced that “everything will be fine” despite the “challenge that comes with it”.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Jason Root, a professional writer working with Today Times Live, the premier news website. I specialize in sports writing, covering the biggest stories in the world of athletics. With an eye for detail and a passion for storytelling, I provide engaging and informative articles that capture the key elements of any event or issue. My work has been featured on numerous respected websites and publications around the world.
