This Monday, Emmanuel Macron spoke to a mother who fears a risk of attack during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
“If there’s anywhere your son will be safe, it’s there.” Emmanuel Macron was categorical when reassuring a citizen and mother. At the heart of concerns: the organization and security of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games at a time when recent terrorist threats and the international context raise fears of the worst. The President of the Republic, guest of BFMTV and RMC on Monday April 15, 100 days before the start of the Paris 2024 Olympics, delivered a long argument to convince his interlocutor, who spoke to him live. This mother refuses to allow her son to go to the opening ceremony scheduled for July 26, on the banks of the Seine.
Emmanuel Macron is keen to organize the ceremony on the banks of the river to make the moment a “world first”: “The game is worth the effort and we have given ourselves the means to dream”. But the security of such a project raises questions, especially after the changes already made compared to the initial project: the gauge of the number of spectators having increased from 600,000 to 326,000. How to secure the perimeter which extends over a course six kilometers along the Seine? The sector will be sealed off eight days before and each spectator entering the perimeter on D-Day will be subject to checks, assured the Head of State. 30,000 members of law enforcement and 20,000 civil security agents will also be mobilized per day, in addition to military forces deployed for patrols and surveillance missions.
But would this system be sufficient in the event of a terrorist threat targeting the Olympic Games and the opening ceremony? Emmanuel Macron insisted that there “is no naivety” in the preparation of the Games and that “the police are mobilized at an exceptional level”. The Head of State, however, and for the first time, indicated that in the event of risk “fallback scenarios” exist: “We have plans B and plans C” in the event of a terrorist or other threat. “We will do a real-time analysis” which will allow until the last moment to opt for the most secure scenario, the Head of State reassured.
If the parade of delegations of athletes on the Seine is no longer possible, the ceremony could only be organized near the Trocadéro, indicated Emmanuel Macron. Another option would be to “repatriate the ceremony to the Stade de France”, in a closed enclosure that is easier to secure. Still, the objective is to stick, as much as possible, to the initial scenario.
But whatever option is chosen, Emmanuel Macron wants to assure his interlocutor and all those who have reservations that security will be there. “Let him go” he said to the mother as his last word. The President of the Republic’s speech, however, does not seem to have had an immediate effect on the citizen who retorted: “I hope my son will work on the day of the ceremony.”
