French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said the opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics planned on the River Seine could be shifted instead to the Stade de France if the security threat is deemed too high. (More Sports News)
France is on high security alert ahead of the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, which are expect🤪ed to draw millions of visitors to the country.
Security concerns are notably high for the exceptional opening ceremony, which involves boats carrying athletes along the Seine on a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) parade and huge crowds watching from the e🅠mbankments.
Speaking to French media BFM-TV and RMC, Macron said France's law enforcement forces will be mobilized a♔t an exceptional level for the security of the open-air event.
“But if we think there are risks, depending on our analys💯is of the context, ꦫwe have fallback scenarios," Macron said. “There are plan Bs and plan Cs.”
The July 26 event is set to be the first Olympic opening ceremony held outside a stadium setting. About 10,500 athletes will parade through the heart of the French capital on boats on the Seine along the route ending in front of the🎐 Trocadéro.
To limit security risks, Macron said organizers could decide ♈to shorten the itinerary of the parade on the Seine, and even to “repatriate the ceremony to the St൲ade de France” for a more conventional opening event.
Organizers had ꦜoriginally planned a grandiose opening ceremony for as many as 600,000 people, most watching free of charge from riverbanks. But security and logistical concerns have led the government to progressively scale back its ambitions. Earlier this year, the overall number of spectators was reduced to around 300,000.
The ❀French government also decided that tourists won't be given free access to watch the opening ceremony because of security concerns. Free access will be invitation-only instead.
Macron insisted that, for now, pla🦩ns for the opening cerem🎉ony remain the same.
“It's a world first. We can do it and we will do it,” the French President ꦍsaid.
France has repeatedly been hit by deadly Islamic State attacks, including the Bataclan theater massacre in 2015 in which extremists opened fire on concert-goers and held hostages for hours. French troops have also fou💃ght against Islamic extremists in the Middle East and Africa.
Last month, the French government increased its security alert posture to the highest level after the deadly attack🍸 at a Russian concert hall an𝐆d the Islamic State's claim of responsibility.
Macron said that security perimeters will be installed “days, even weeks” before the opening🉐 ceremony. He added that road tr𒁏affic in the high-security zone will be brought to a standstill, and that French authorities will use "drone systems, coding, cyber protection,” in their safeguarding efforts.
Answering to a viewer who expressed concerns about her son attending the opening ceremony, Macron said “If there's one place where your son wil👍l be safe, it's here."
“There are always risks in life,” he said. "And we see it e𒊎very day, unfortunately. But we've given ourselves the means to do it.”
During the hour-long interview, Macron also said he wants "to do everything possible to have an Olympic truce” for the Paris Gꦏames, amid a risk of an escalating conflict in the Middle East, Russia's war in Ukraine, now in its third year, and Sudan, hurtling towards a large-scale calamity of starvation and mass death after a year-long war.
The Olympic T📖ruce is a modern revival of the ancient Greek tradition to ensure warring city states allowed safe passage for athletes to the games. Every two years, the host country of the upcom🏅ing Olympics introduces a U.N. resolution that other member states can co-sponsor.
“We want to work towards an Olympic t🌟ruce and I think it i🍷s an occasion for me to engage with a lot of our partners,” Macron said, adding that he would ask Chinese leader Xi Jinping to weigh in and use his influence.
“The Chinese president is coming to Paris in a few weeks, and I'm going to ask him to help me,ꦛ” Macron said. “This is a diplomatic moment of peace.”
Macron also backed the decision to allow Russian athletes to compete in the Olympics despite the Ukraine invasion, but under a neutral flag. Additionally, he defended the participaꦗtion of Israeli athletes under their country's flag despite its offensive in Gaza in which 33,0꧟00 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced.
“We cannot say that Israel is attacking,” Macron said. “Israel was a victim of a terrorist attack to🥀 which it is now responding to in Gaza.”
