The terrorist attack near the Eiffel Tower on Saturday, December 2, which cost the life of a tourist of German and Filipino nationality, revives the thorny, even “worrying” subject of security during the Olympic and Paralympic Games ( JOP) which will take place in eight months, from July 26 to August 11, 2024. With, as an inaugural highlight, an opening ceremony planned in the open air on the Seine, between the Pont d’Austerlitz and the Pont d’Austerlitz. Jena.
“Worrying”, this is the term used by Frédéric Péchenard, the vice-president of Les Républicains d’Île-de-France who has an authoritative opinion on the question because he is the former director general of the National Police. “ There are a certain number of risks that weigh” on the JOP, he said, Sunday December 3 on France Info, the day after the attack which took place near the Bir-Hakeim bridge, in the 15e district of Paris, in an area where events will take place. Mr. Péchenard called for a “possible plan B” for the opening ceremony, asking the question of the sufficiency of means “to monitor tens of thousands of people, hundreds of apartments”.
“We don’t have a plan B”
A hypothesis which sparked immediate reactions. In response to these reservations, the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, assured, Monday December 4, on France inter, that France “has the capacity to secure this event”. As such, the relocation of the opening ceremony is not ” a hypothesis “ considered. “We don’t have a plan B, we have a plan A in which there are several alternative plans”she mentions, considering “a certain number of adjustment variables” to protect ourselves as best as possible from a terrorist risk which ” exist “. With the possibility of “reduce certain sections of [la] programming », if necessary, for security reasons. Like, for example, the gauge of spectators who will be able to follow the ceremony in situ. It should be set at 400,000 spectators, instead of the 600,000 people initially authorized.
Not really enough for Frédéric Péchenard, who clarifies his thoughts World: “Let’s get along clearly… I am not hostile, in principle, to the opening ceremony. Before October 7 [date de l’attaque terroriste du Hamas contre Israël], its organization seemed difficult to me, but playable. Since then, I think the situation has changed. We had two attacks in France [à Arras le 13 octobre et à Paris le 2 décembre]. And I don’t really believe that Israel and Hamas will find common ground before the Olympic Games. So, tension will continue to exist among us. With perhaps other attacks. » He warns: “A double question will arise in May and June: will we feel able to ensure the security of the ceremony? Will the invited delegations accept the conditions of the ceremony, parading on open-air boats? We’re not sure of anything, so we have to think of a plan B.”
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