A few days before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on Friday, July 26 on the Seine, the security machinery is in place in Paris. Rarely in peacetime will the capital have seen so many police forces, soldiers and security agents in its streets.
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Getting around Paris without encountering a single patrol is now a feat. Thirty-five thousand police officers and gendarmes are mobilized in the capital. In addition, there are 20,000 private security agents and 18,000 military personnel. On July 26, 40,000 law enforcement officers will be mobilized in Paris to ensure security for the opening ceremony.
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The police are heavily concentrated along the Seine and the Olympic sites. Patrols have also been stepped up on public transport. This system is bearing fruit: the Paris Police Prefecture reveals that violent robberies on public transport have fallen by 20% in the first half of 2024, compared to the first half of 2023.
To assist the 700 daily patrols in the capital during the Games, more than 1,800 security forces from around forty partner countries, such as the Qatar where the Chileare arriving in Paris, like the Qatari forces.
More than a million people checked, more than 4,300 people excluded from screening
More'” one million administrative investigations ” were carried out in the context of the Paris Olympic Games and 4,355 people likely to present a threat to the event were removed, the Minister of the Interior announced on Sunday July 21. Gerald Darmanin on the public channel France 2.
These security investigations have been carried out for all persons who will participate directly or indirectly in the Olympic Games from July 26 to August 11, and Paralympic from August 28 to September 8: athletes, coaches, journalists, volunteers, private security agents and even local residents at the ceremony.
Of the 4,355 people screened out during these screenings, 880 people were screened out for suspicion of foreign interference, 360 are under an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF) and 142 are listed as S (for state security), the minister’s entourage told Agence France-Presse. Among these people screened out, there are also 260 individuals listed for radical Islamism, 186 listed as far left and 96 as far right.
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Another 200 to 300 private security agents to be hired, according to the regional prefect
Again ” 200 or 300 personal “private security personnel remain to be hired for the Games, Ile-de-France regional prefect Marc Guillaume said on Radio Classique on Monday.
Two weeks earlier, he had estimated the total at around 900 people, to which he said he should add ” 1 400 people to find in no-show “, that is to say to compensate for the ” individual failures ” of last minute. ” All these agents are checked before they are issued their professional card. “, he reassured. ” The State has committed 68 million euros to finance 25,000 training courses, to date, we have carried out more than 26,000. ” he said happily.
The issue of private security has been a concern for months for the Olympic organizing committee, which has estimated the number of security agents needed at between 18,000 and 22,000 at the height of the global sporting event.
At the end of June, the police prefect Laurent Nuñez assured that there would be ” no substitution “private security by the army or law enforcement during the Games. He had nevertheless indicated that during the opening ceremony on the Seine, the police and the gendarmerie would provide “ a number of missions which, on other sites, can be carried out by private security “.
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