French interior minister praises law enforcement for security work at Paris Olympics
PARIS (AP) — Three days before the start of the 2024 Olympics, France’s interior minister praised law enforcement for their hard work in making the Paris Games safe for thousands of athletes and millions of fans amid security challenges.
Paris is deploying around 30,000 police officers each day for the Olympics, which run Friday to Aug. 11, with a peak of 45,000 for the opening ceremony on the Seine river.
In a handwritten note to tens of thousands of police officers, firefighters, bomb disposal experts, intelligence services agents and private security personnel, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said “the largest global event that a country can organize” is “finally” here after four years of preparation, but he noted that it faced unprecedented security challenges.
“Your task will not be easy,” Darmanin said in a letter that was posted on the social platform X late Monday. Paris has repeatedly suffered deadly extremist attacks and international tensions are high because of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
Olympic organizers also have cyberattack concerns, while rights campaigners and Games critics are worried about Paris’ use of AI-equipped surveillance technology and the broad scope and scale of Olympic security that they fear may remain in place beyond the Olympics.
Darmanin has called on law enforcement in Paris to “pay attention to detail” to keep 10,500 athletes and millions of visitors safe during the Games, which open with a lavish, open-air ceremony Friday stretching for kilometers (miles) along the Seine.
“I am counting on each one of you to present the most beautiful face of France, caring, friendly and professional,” Darmanin said. He added: “The eyes of the world will be set on you.”
Rather than build an Olympic park with venues grouped together outside of the city center, like Rio de Janeiro in 2016 or London in 2012, Paris has chosen to host many of the events in the heart of the bustling capital of 2 million inhabitants, with others dotted around suburbs that house millions more.
Putting temporary sports arenas in public spaces and staging the opening ceremony along the Seine makes those protections more complex.
About 18,000 members of the military are taking part in the security efforts, including thousands housed in a huge, special camp erected on the edge of Paris.
France is also getting help from more than 40 countries that together have sent at least 1,900 police reinforcements.
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