The Minister of the Interior wanted to reassure. In an interview with ‘Parisien’ on Monday 8th April, Gérald Darmanin assessed the security measures for the Olympic and Paralympic Games to be held in France this summer (from 26th July to 11th August and then from 28th August to 8th September). According to him, there is no reason to be concerned: France will be safe during the Games, with 45,000 police officers and gendarmes on duty. “Paradoxically, from the moment they are very secure, the major events are probably among the safest places, those where there will be the fewest opportunities to act, although we must of course remain humble in the face of danger,” assures Gérald Darmanin. 

Holding the opening ceremony on the banks of the Seine in front of 300,000 people is “a good idea” for the Minister of the Interior. But Gérald Darmanin insists that he is prepared for “all eventualities”. From there, in case of threat, to a place far from the Seine? “It is certain that in the event of a clear and imminent threat, we would implement the decisions taken by the President of the Republic” he explains, speaking of “many possible scenarios based on critical situations”, without specifying them.

In the most likely scenario where the ceremony takes place, as planned, outdoors, a whole area around the Seine will be closed to traffic a week before 26 July, the date of the grand boat parade. Then, on the same day from 1 p.m., “no one will pass, except for emergencies (ambulances, SAMU, SOS doctors, firefighters…). If there is another emergency, there will be dedicated police teams to accompany you,” details Gérald Darmanin. Within the perimeter, around fifteen metro stations will be closed.

A large number of heads of state will be in attendance at the ceremony. However, as “for the first time in the history of civil aviation” the airspace will be closed “from 7pm to midnight” on the day of the ceremony, officials from all countries will have to stay overnight in Paris. Many hotels and embassies will therefore be under increased security. In addition to the French police, some 2,500 foreign police officers and gendarmes “will come to help us” during the Games, explains Gérald Darmanin. “They will either protect their teams, lend us dogs to sniff out drugs, bombs or weapons, or talk to their fellow citizens”. Assistance will come from fifty countries. Their agents will be “mostly” armed.

Investigations on volunteers and security agents who will work around the Games were also discussed by Gérald Darmanin. “Among the 195,000 administrative investigations already carried out […] and the screening of the 285,000 private security agents, we have identified 161 listed individuals, almost all of them French, who have been excluded: 105 for radical Islam, 35 for the extreme right, 18 for the extreme left and 3 for foreign interference,” the interior minister said. He cites the example of a “radical Islamist” who wanted to carry the Olympic torch, or a “far-right type” who wanted to “go to Ukraine to fight on the side of the Russians” and volunteer to do so. 

Finally, the Place Beauvau resident explained the government’s plans to deal with the “threat of protests”. These could include unfurling banners, putting their hands on the road or trying to extinguish the flame. To avoid protests, Gérald Darmanin promised an “alternative route” for “each stage of the Olympic torch”, which will arrive in Marseille on 8 May and travel through Paris until 26 July. “If a sit-in is organised, we can bypass it. If people throw themselves into the sea to stop the boat carrying the torch, we have planned a second landing point,” he assures In an interview with ‘Parisien’.

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