The French intelligence service announced a high level of threat to the safety of the participants and proposed moving to “Plan B”.
Photo: The Truth Archive
France's General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) has recommended that the Republic's Ministry of Internal Affairs refuse to hold the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on the river and switch to “Plan B” due to the high threat to the safety of the participants, Radio Europe reported 1.
“We have to go to plan B“, insists the radio station's source of information. The current format of the river parade poses too many risks to be left as is, he said.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin was to meet with intelligence officials on Thursday, the radio station reported. At this meeting, DGSI representatives were to brief the minister on the level of the terrorist threat – analysts fear a “return of mass terrorism in France“.
Possible risks include lone terrorists who might drive a car into a crowd of people or attack with a firearm. Intelligence officials also fear so-called sleeper terror cells inside the country, which are “activated remotely from the Afghan area“. In this sense, DGSI wants to avoid a scenario of “coordinated attack” on the opening day of the 2024 Olympics.
In addition, against the backdrop of the terrorist attack on the Crocus Shopping Center near Moscow, the terrorist threat level in France has been raised to maximum. According to the French security forces, this is due to the intensification of the activities of the terrorist group “Islamic State” (IS). French intelligence services have stepped up checks on people from Central Asia, particularly from Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
The opening ceremony
The Olympic Games in Paris will take place between July 26 and August 11. As previously stated by Pierre Schille, the Chief of the General Staff of the French Land Forces, France will increase the military contingent that will be used to guard the Olympic Games in Paris to 20 thousand people. He specified that the military will accompany the participants in the Olympic torch relay throughout the country. During the competition they will provide direct support to the police, gendarmerie and other security services in the country.
One of the most important points that the military will guard will be the river port on the Seine, from where barges with national teams will depart for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Security on the lower embankments along the route of the delegations will be provided by about 2 thousand employees of private security companies. Order on the upper embankments, whose length reaches about 12 km, will be ensured by 45 thousand policemen and gendarmes.
Amid serious concerns about the safety of the event, the French Interior Ministry announced in late January that it would halve the number of spectators at the opening of the Olympics to 300,000.
