Amid rising tensions over the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, threats from the Islamic State group, and France’s history of homegrown Islamist terror plots as well as far-right extremism, there were real concerns about France’s ability to ensure adequate security during the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, French security services managed to keep thousands of athletes and millions of fans safe – a “gold-medal” performance, according to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.
The vaulting ambition of the Paris Olympics – which included an opening ceremony held along a six-kilometre (four-mile) stretch of the River Seine, the first to take place outdoors and with 300,000 ticketed spectators present – made them a difficult and daunting task to police.
The two-week sporting extravaganza that finished on Sunday saw packed stadiums, with 743,000 people attending sports venues in a single day on July 30. In addition, around a million people lined the course of the men’s and women’s cycling road races on August 3-4. In preparation for these record crowd numbers, a security operation like no other in recent French history was launched– with around 75,000 police, soldiers and private security guards mobilised for the opening night on July 26. Of these, 2,000 were foreign troops and police.
“We worked in close collaboration with other forces, as security is an international job,” says Axel Ronde, spokesperson for the French CFTC police union. “These foreign service personnel gave us an extra hand, we had policemen of different nationalities that lent us their expertise and equipment, such as anti-drug drones, explosive detection dogs, etc.”
An important factor that also helped ensure the security of the Games was the cooperation between the security personnel and spectators. “The Games took place amid a great atmosphere, and the police were very well received by both Parisians and tourists, who cooperated well with them,” says Ronde. In fact, some members of the French police force even competed in events, such as Clarisse Agbegnenou, who won bronze in the women’s 63kg judo category.
‘Everything went smoothly’
While there were some small incidents over the past fortnight, including a series of coordinated attacks on the French railways ahead of the opening ceremony and a pitch invader that delayed the 100m men’s final, the Games largely went according to plan. “Everything went very smoothly. It’s almost surprising that things went just as well as we imagined they would in the stadiums (where there was lots of security) as in the streets,” says Louis Bernard, founder of Crisotech, a consulting firm that specialises in crisis management. “The road cycling event for instance brought together 500,000 people in the streets of Paris, with zero violence. It seems that the spectators didn’t come to Paris to fight, which is sometimes the case during football matches.”
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French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin was quick to offer his congratulations on the security efforts following months of national and international doubts over whether France’s already stretched resources would be up to the task. "These Olympic Games involve both great French medals and a great gold medal for the ministry of the interior and the security forces," said Darmanin last week as he visited officers on duty in Marseille in southern France. This enthusiasm was echoed by French criminologist and university professor Alain Bauer, a vocal critic of the open-air opening ceremony. “Without any doubt, French security services deserve a gold medal,” Bauer told AFP. He said it was because of the “exceptional investment” and “essential changes” which saw organisers decrease the size of the opening ceremony crowd after pressure from the interior ministry.
Bernard has a more balanced view, however. “It’s always difficult to say for certain whether an attack didn’t occur because the security services performed their job well,” says Bernard. However, “many arrests were made before the opening ceremony. Groups and people who had vowed to disrupt the event were prevented from doing so, so yes, the hard work must have paid off”.
Security threats
The wars in Gaza, threats from the Islamic State group, and France's history of homegrown Islamist terror plots and far-right extremism raised fears of a possible attack during the Games. “The Paris organisers had the challenge of dealing with making the games during the most difficult international set of geopolitical circumstances faced by any host city in modern times,” David Dunn, a political science and international studies professor at the University of Birmingham, told Cronkite News.
France’s cyber-security agency was on high alert for Russian attacks that could disrupt the organising committee, ticketing or transport. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian and Belarusian athletes were banned from competing in the 2024 Games unless they did so as “individual neutral athletes”.
The arrest of a 40-year-old suspected member of the Russian secret services on the eve of the Games unnerved the French authorities.
French intelligence services also uncovered two plots by suspected Islamist militants in early 2024. A man was detained on suspicion of planning an attack during the torch relay in Bordeaux in May, while another was arrested in southern France over a plan to attack one of the Olympic football venues.
Even hours before the closing ceremony on Sunday night, French police evacuated the area around the Eiffel Tower after a shirtless man was seen climbing the Parisian landmark. The police intervened and detained the man.
Repressive measures?
Not everyone sees the security operation set up during the Paris Games as something to celebrate, however.
Charities complained about repressive policing of the homeless, sex workers and migrants ahead of the Games, while anti-Olympics protest groups say they have been prevented from exercising their democratic rights.
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Furthermore, around 45 activists from the Extinction Rebellion climate change protest group were detained by police the day after the opening ceremony as they prepared to occupy a bridge in central Paris over the River Seine.
While Ronde is happy with the success of the Paris Games, he urges continued caution and vigilance as Paris gears up for the Paralympics, taking place from August 28-September 8. “For the moment, the Games have been a success on a security level. However, the Paralympics are coming up, where something could still happen at any time,” says Ronde.
Bernard agrees. “The terrorist threat is still high. Underestimating it would be a mistake.”
(with AFP)
