PARIS, April 26 (Reuters) – Nearly 6,000 police and gendarmes will be deployed on May 8 in Marseille for the arrival of the Olympic flame at the Old Port, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced on Friday .
The symbolic torch, lit on April 16 in Olympia, Greece, was to be handed over to France this Friday in Athens. Placed in a lantern, she will “embark” on Saturday in Piraeus on the Belem, a French three-masted ship dating from 1896, for a 12-day journey to Marseille.
Some 150,000 people are expected on May 8 for the arrival of the ship, which will be accompanied by a thousand boats.
“Nearly 6,000 police officers and gendarmes, elite units, a complete anti-drone fighter system, underwater and nautical resources… everything is ready for the arrival of the Olympic flame in Marseille on May 8 “, wrote Gérald Darmanin on X, hailing an “extraordinary device.” (Written by Sophie Louet, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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