Yanis Darras
modified to
9:24 a.m., January 8, 2024
Thibault de Montbrial, lawyer and president of the Center for Reflection on Internal Security, was the guest of La Grande interview Europe 1-CNews. At Sonia Mabrouk’s microphone, he returned to securing the Olympics next summer. A major challenge for France.
An opening ceremony on the Seine, millions of visitors and a significant terrorist risk. Securing the Paris Olympic Games this summer will be a particularly major point for the Ministry of the Interior. Invited this Monday morning on the set of La Grande interview Europe 1-CNews, the lawyer and president of the Center for Reflection on Internal Security is concerned about a massive mobilization of the police for sporting events, to the detriment of the daily security of the French.
2024, a year of major security measures
“We saw in 2023 with the Rugby World Cup, with the arrival of King Charles III, with the arrival of the Pope in Marseille, to ensure the security of very large one-off events”, he underlines at the microphone of Sonia Mabouk. “Now, the double challenge is that we will have to secure major events throughout the spring and early summer. Particularly because the Olympic flame will have a journey for 110 days throughout the territory. Now, that would be a wonderful symbol for all extremists of all stripes who would like to have their fifteen minutes of fame on TV,” he judges.
In addition to the flame’s route, the police will also have to secure the “80th anniversary of the landings of Normandy and Provence, as well as the Tour de France, then July 14 and finally the Olympic Games”, continues the ‘lawyer.
“Violence is once again becoming a method of conflict resolution in France”
With a fear for the latter: that the security of the French will be relegated to the background: “Obsessed with the Olympic objective, we can forget the protection of the people,” he worries. Especially since for the president of the Center for Reflection on Internal Security, the public authorities are satisfied with figures which he nevertheless finds “catastrophic”. “Violence is once again becoming a method of conflict resolution in France at all levels,” believes Thibault de Montbrial.
It remains to be seen whether the police will be able to be mobilized for so many events at once, while the rest of the gendarmes and police officers remains a major subject for the smooth running of the Olympics.