Ensuring the safety of the 328,000 spectators, leaders and international representatives was the organization’s major challenge. In recent 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 and bring happiness to the whole world,” said French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra on Thursday a few hours before the big event. opening ceremony of the Olympic Games which will be held this afternoon from 7:30 p.m.. A boat parade on the Seine in the monumental center of Paris, where nearly 200 boats, including boats carrying some 8,000 athletes and boats providing security and support, will sail six kilometers between the Austerlitz and Jena bridges.
The last bridge connects the Eiffel Tower to the Trocadero Gardens, where grandstands have been built for the most important guests and where the last and most important part of the show, which will last four hours, will take place. In addition to French President Emmanuel Macron and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, up to a hundred heads of state and government, as well as leaders of international organizations, will be present at the Trocadero.
The ceremony promises originality and spectacle, but is also a nightmare for the security, the Logistics and the transport.
Paris is fully armoredAnd that is it to guarantee safety In an open space of such size and with so many visitors (328,000 spectators and a hundred leaders and officials of international organizations) it is the big challenge that the organizers have had to deal with.
Some 45,000 police officers and gendarmes will be deployed on Friday, along with some 10,000 soldiers and several thousand private security guards.
There is already strict surveillance around some sports delegations, and special units of the National Police (Raid) and the Gendarmerie (CIGN) provide special protection to athletes from ‘sensitive’ countries, such as Israel, the United States, Ukraine and Palestine or Iran.
The buildings on the banks of the Seine have received special attention. Residents or visitors (whether they are homes, hotels or offices) have been monitored in recent days and there will be elite agents and gunmen on the roofs.
In addition, Paris airspace will be closed from 6:30 p.m. on Friday. This closure will be operational within a 150-kilometer radius of the capital and will mean that the three airports (Orly, Charles de Gaulle and Beauvais) will have to suspend their take-offs and landings one hour before their departure.
The transport labyrinth
Transport has also been a source of problems, especially for Parisians and suburban residents who work in the capital.
The area where the ceremony will take place, in the historic center of Paris, is closed off by 44,000 fences and to pass through you will need the specific QR code.
Several metro stations in the city centre have also been temporarily closed, while many streets and squares have been closed to traffic, significantly limiting options for tourists.
And where traffic is allowed, special ‘Olympic’ lanes – marked with blue lines – have been created for the passage of athletes and VIPs, condemning the rest of the traffic to even bigger traffic jams than normal.
Even the Paris Periphery, the highway that encircles the city like a ring, will face many restrictions today and could even be closed completely, as Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete warned on Thursday.
Several arrests have been made this week
French authorities on Thursday arrested an 18-year-old man suspected of collaborating with the teenager arrested on Tuesday in the Gironde department for an alleged “violent action plan” against the Olympic Games, which officially begin in Paris this Friday.
This other 18-year-old was arrested in Gironde on Tuesday on charges of planning a terrorist attack a few days before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. Security forces have detained him and accused him of “terrorist criminal association with a view to preparing one or more crimes of personal injury”.
According to the National Counter-Terrorism Prosecution Service, the two detainees maintained ties on social networks and in real life. The investigation by the Anti-Terrorism Prosecution Service must now determine how realistic the plans of both detainees to attack during the Olympic Games were, although exchanges of messages on social networks were discovered that raised the authorities’ concerns.
Further other 7 persons have been locked up as suspects in Belgium in an anti-terrorist operation to protect the Olympic Games. Authorities intervened on the eve of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, as the Olympic event is a “potential target”, although so far There is no evidence that the suspects specifically wanted to attack the Games.This was indicated by sources close to the investigation.
The arrests took place as part of a coordinated European operation between several judicial and intelligence authorities.
Since Thursday, the police forces of France and Switzerland have been carrying out an “exceptional control operation” on the 570-kilometre-long border between the two countries, to combat cross-border crime and customs fraud in the context of the Olympic Games.
For this reason, members of the police and gendarmerie have reinforced the usual customs guard posts, in an “unprecedented” operation, the Swiss Federal Customs Office said in a statement.
Source: EITB
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
