Saturday morning, the first official day of the Olympic Games. Extinction Rébellion had organised a civil disobedience action called ‘Forbidden Games’. The aim of the organisation was to protest “against the social and environmental destruction caused by Paris 2024”.

Fourteen Extinction Rebellion activists, aged between 24 and 36 and suspected of planning “acts of sabotage”, were arrested in the early hours of Saturday 27 July on the Ile de la Cite and Chatelet in Paris, according to Le Parisien.

French police prevented climate activists from holding a demonstration in central Paris. Members of Extinction Rebellion (XR), previously known for shutting down bridges over the Thames in London, had planned to occupy the Pont des Arts bridge over the Seine, where the opening ceremony of the Games had taken place hours earlier.

Shortly after 09:00 CEST, 11 people – eight men and three women – were initially arrested on the Ile de la Cite. The rest of the group managed to escape. At around 11:00 CEST, three more people were arrested in the Chatelet-Les-Halles area. A group of journalists preparing to cover the protest were also kettled.

Security forces are on high alert nationwide after saboteurs early Friday disrupted train travel throughout France. In a message posted on social networks, Extinction Rebellion announced the cancellation of the civil disobedience action “following the repression that hit the activists even before they started’. Our democracy is burning and we are watching the flame of Paris 2024,” they said.

The protest on the bridge, which organisers said would be ‘more visible than disruptive’, was cancelled after police arrested XR activists before it could begin, the group said in a statement. Alexis Baudelin, the group’s lawyer, told AFP that around 30 people had been pre-emptively arrested in Paris without being charged with a specific crime.

Eight other activists had already been arrested and released on Tuesday 23 July for placing stickers critical of the Games on the Paris metro. On Friday 26 July, nine environmental activists were arrested in the Bois de Vincennes on suspicion of planning actions against the Olympic cycling time trial. They were arrested at around 2pm as they attempted to climb the trees overlooking the course near the Lac de Daumesnil.

Organisers of the Paris 2024 Olympics have promised to take ‘unprecedented’ climate action, halving the event’s carbon footprint compared to previous Games. But scientists and campaigners have been sceptical, criticising car giant Toyota’s sponsorship of the Games.

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