PARIS (Reuters) – Authorities remain concerned about the threat of Islamist terrorism during the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Paris police chief said on Friday, 35 days before the opening ceremony planned on the Seine.
“We are obviously concerned about the terrorist threat and in particular Islamist terrorism,” declared Laurent Nuñez during a press conference at the police headquarters.
“There is still no real threat against the Games and our country but I would still like to remind you that at the end of May, two individuals were arrested in Saint-Étienne and were fomenting a project directly against the Games Olympics. This is a major point of attention.”
An 18-year-old Chechen national, who planned to attack the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium during the Games, was indicted as the leader of a terrorist criminal association with a view to preparing crimes of harm to persons and then placed in detention provisional.
“The terrorist threat remains a significant threat in the same way as the protest threat from small radical groups defending the environment, the ultra-left or the pro-Palestinian movement,” added Laurent Nuñez.
The Olympic Games take place from July 26 to August 11.
(Written by Vincent Daheron, edited by Sophie Louet)
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