Gérald Darmanin affirms it. The arrival of the Olympic flame in the Old Port of Marseille, on May 8, aboard the three-masted ship Belemgo “ring the start of the Olympic Games [JO] » of Paris 2024. “A secure and popular ceremony”, promised the Minister of the Interior, traveling to the city on Friday April 26, to detail the system put in place for an event which should attract, according to the municipality, 150,000 spectators and nearly a billion television viewers.
On land, in the air, on the Marseille harbor and even underwater with underwater drones, 5,942 police officers and gendarmes will be mobilized for the maritime arrival of the Olympic fire. A landing which must take place in the presence of the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron. The security deployment will be renewed on Thursday, May 9, for the first day of the torch relay, which will take place entirely on the territory of the municipality, in eight stages, from the Notre-Dame de la Garde basilica to the Stade-Vélodrome.
“Half of the mobile force units we have will be in Marseille during these two days”specified Mr. Darmanin, referring to “a device that has never existed in this city” and which exceeds the already exceptional one put in place in September 2023 for the coming of Pope Francis.
“Grandiose and popular at the same time”
In addition to the sixteen snipers positioned on the high points of the Old Port, the agents of the maritime prefecture, the soldiers of Operation “Sentinel” and the 80 demining dogs mobilized, 2,500 people will be added. available by the municipality. Including 500 municipal police officers and 600 volunteers particularly dedicated to “to make spectator movements more fluid”. A presence that the Minister of the Interior nevertheless promises “as discreet as possible”so that the ceremony remains “a rejoicing for Marseille, for its youth and for France”.
“First of all, it’s a big party. And for a party to go well, it must be secure,” agrees the mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan (various left), present alongside the Minister of the Interior and the Secretary of State for the City, Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, and who recalled the exceptional nature of the event . “No country before France has ever made the arrival of the flame such a grand ceremony, grandiose and popular at the same time”rejoices the Marseille elected official, delighted to “audacity” of the proposal from his municipal team.
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