Over 2,000 foreign police officers in Paris to help with Olympic security
More than 40 countries have provided reinforcements to the French police for the Olympic event, which, according to the Paris Tourist Office, is expected to attract around 15 million visitors between the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Anyone strolling through the iconic streets of Paris will have noticed numerous light gray camouflage tanks from the Qatari police. Indeed, they have not gone unnoticed in the French capital. This display from the Arab country marks the beginning of international reinforcements for Paris 2024.
It is important to clarify that, within the framework of this global cooperation between countries to ensure the security of large-scale events, this is a standard procedure.For instance, the host nation of this year’s Games also benefited from such support during the 2016 UEFA European Championship, the last major event it hosted, with nearly 200 personnel from two dozen countries.
Due to proximity and established ties, European states contributed the most to the mission. Spain, France’s neighboring country, is the top contributor with over 360 personnel; the United Kingdom will send 245, and Germany around 161, according to information obtained by this newspaper.
The main objective of the operation involving foreign reinforcements will be “proximity prevention,” staying “as close as possible to the sites and the public,” according to police sources.
Regarding a more precise description of their role, the French Ministry of the Interior stated in a official release that “a large part of them will be deployed in train stations, airports, and at Olympic or sports venues.”
These reinforcements will support approximately 35,000 gendarmes, in addition to 18,000 French military personnel, who will be mobilized on average each day to safeguard the sporting event taking place.
Parisians will also benefit from the presence of “experts in anti-drone measures, border guards, spotters, and bomb disposal experts,” the ministry noted in the same document. “There will be operations for detecting explosives and fighting terrorism,” added the Polish Minister of Defense, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, when asked about his country’s collaboration in sending security forces to the Olympic epicenter.