On the water, perched on rooftops and operating AI-augmented cameras, French security forces have mounted a colossal operation to prevent an incident ruining the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics on the river Seine on Friday evening.
The figures tell only part of the story of the efforts made to protect the river parade, the first time a Summer Olympics has started outside a stadium.
About 45,000 police and paramilitary officers will be on duty, along with 10,000 soldiers and 20,000 private security guards.
The total area that needs securing measures more than six kilometres (four miles) along the Seine and will contain around 300,000 ticketed spectators, as well as hundreds of thousands of other residents and tourists in overlooking buildings.
A no-fly zone 150 kilometres wide around Paris will be enforced an hour before the ceremony starts at 7:30 pm (11PM IST/1730 GMT), grounding or diverting all aviation at one of Europe's busiest airport hubs.
“This opening ceremony is the most extraordinary thing a country can do,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told BFM television on Wednesday.
It comes at a time when France is on its maximum alert for terror attacks.
“Security of 100 percent does not exist,” Frederic Pechenard, a former head of the French police force, told AFP. “The bigger and more difficult and complex a site is, the higher the risks are.”
Fortress
The huge amount of specialised equipment and personnel illustrates the difficulty of securing such a risky environment – an open-air site with fast-flowing water, overlooked by hundreds of buildings.
Police snipers are set to be positioned on every high point along the route, with an assassination attempt on US presidential candidate Donald Trump on July 13 helping focus minds.
Navy and police vessels with divers and sonar are responsible for securing the depths of the river, while all of the 85 boats in the parade and others moored along the route have been screened by sniffer dogs and bomb disposal experts.
River traffic will be stopped in both directions, with barriers installed and nets that can be dropped to the bottom of the waterway if necessary.
Nicole Deal, chief of security for Team USA, said she was reassured.
“For those of us that have been here on the ground, we’ve seen the security footprint here. It is impressive,” she told a press conference on Friday.
“I have never seen (one) quite like this in any other Games. And I'm confident.”
The Seine concept for the opening ceremony was at first resisted by some senior security officials and described by renowned French criminologist Alain Bauer as “criminal madness” in 2022.
The initial plans – of having up to a million spectators by the river – have been scaled back.
“The risks have not changed and have become worse because of the war in Ukraine, the situation in Israel and Gaza as well as social, environmental and political tensions in France,” Bauer told AFP.
“It’s a beautiful idea but it has a cost and considerable consequences.”
Since last week, central Paris has been turned into a fortress, with metal barriers sealing off both banks of the Seine. Only residents and people with hotel bookings are allowed into the high-security area.
The French army is set to be in charge of anti-drone operations, using the country’s most sophisticated electronic warfare technology.
“Drones are now a real risk and that’s why measures have been taken,” said Jean-Michel Fauvergue, former head of the police commando unit RAID.
Drones operated by security forces will be a key tool to monitor suspicious activity, along with AI-augmented cameras – new technology being deployed controversially in France for the first time – that will scan the crowds.
Tensions
France has been a frequent target of Islamist terror groups over the last decade, notably in 2015 when the Bataclan concert hall and the national stadium were attacked.
An offshoot of the Islamic State group in Afghanistan was said by President Emmanuel Macron to be plotting against France in March and IS-affiliated social media accounts have issued regular threats.
Four suspects believed to be plotting attacks against the Games have been arrested, Darmanin said on Wednesday.
The international context, particularly the war in Gaza, have heightened fears.
“If you look at the history of Islamist terror attacks, you see that every time there is tension, a foreign war, then there are consequences in our country,” Pechenard, the former head of police, said.
Israel warned France on Thursday of potential threats from Iran-backed groups against Israeli athletes and tourists in Paris during the Olympics.
“There are those who seek to harm the festivities of this joyous event,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz told his French counterpart in a letter released to the media.
