‘No safer place’ than Paris during 2024 Olympics

On December 4, 2023, 8:14 PM

There will be “no safer place in the world” than Paris during the 2024 Olympic Games, the city’s deputy mayor for sport said following a knife and hammer attack in the city on Saturday.

Anti-terrorism prosecutors opened an investigation after a German man died and two others were injured.

It occurred at a location near the Eiffel Tower which has been included in the opening ceremony plans.

Pierre Rabadan told BFM TV the city is “confident to guarantee safety”.

A French man has been arrested, and anti-terrorism prosecutors opened an investigation after the 26-year-old pledged allegiance to Islamic State in a video recorded beforehand.

“We have an exceptional system that will be put in place for the opening ceremony,” Rabadan said.

“It’s awful what happened. Our thoughts are with those who have been affected. We have been monitoring the situation, but there is no second plan specifically.

“We have a plan in place but there are variables that can be adjusted to ensure the security for the people of the world. There are sufficient measures in place.

“There won’t be any other place or area in the world that will be more safe than the Olympic Games or Olympic Park.”

Paris plans to hold the opening ceremony outside a stadium for the first time in the history of the summer Games.

It will instead take place through the centre of Paris, following a 3.7-mile route along the Seine river, with 160 boats setting off on 26 July from Pont d’Austerlitz to Pont d’Iena – about 600m from Quai de Grenelle where the attack took place.

French sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said that while Paris had “no plan B” there were “several sub-plans with a certain number of adjustment variables” in place.

Asked if the government was considering changing its plan to hold the ceremony on the River Seine, with several hundred thousand spectators expected to line its banks, the minister said that was “not something we’re working with”.

“We have the capacity to secure the event,” Oudea-Castera added.

France has been on high alert since raising its security threshold in October, when a teacher was killed in a knife attack in a school in northern France.

European security officials have warned of a growing risk of attacks by Islamist militants amid the Israel-Hamas war, with the biggest threat likely from “lone wolf” assailants who are hard to track.

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