Yanis Darras
modified to
10:30 a.m., December 28, 2023
Frédéric Péchenard, former director general of the national police and elected Les Républicains to the Council of Paris, was the guest of La Grande interview Europe 1-CNews. At Yoann Usaï’s microphone, he returned to the terrorist risk during the Olympic Games, and questions the safety of athletes, particularly Israelis.
The risk of terrorism hangs over the Olympic Games. Just seven months before the organization of the biggest sporting event of the year, the risk of attack is being taken more seriously than ever. Questioned this Thursday morning on the set of La Grande interview Europe 1-CNews, the elected LR to the Council of Paris, Frédéric Péchenard, assures that France will have no other choice but to prepare for it.
“We have no choice. The Olympics will come to France in seven months. So we have to cope as best as possible. Yes, there is a terrorist risk. I also think that the State services have it perfectly aware”, he explains, adding that we must not “scare unnecessarily”.
“Period of extreme tension in the Middle East”
But “the terrorist risk has increased since October 7”, the date when Hamas carried out a large-scale terrorist attack on Israeli territory, killing more than 1,100 people, mostly civilians. “Jihadist terrorism struck France, always mirroring what was happening internationally. In 86, during tensions with Iran, Hezbollah placed bombs in Paris, notably rue de Rennes. During tensions in the Iraqi-Syrian zone with Daesh, the latter strikes France, notably with the Bataclan. So here, we are in a period of extreme tension in the Middle East. And it is likely that we could have other attacks, this n “It’s not certain, but it’s likely,” he warns.
Among the potential targets during the games: athletes. “It will be necessary to particularly monitor Israeli athletes given the situation, but also American or French athletes and all those who are identified as being targets by terrorists,” indicates Frédéric Péchenard.
An important precaution for him, whereas in 1972, during the Munich Games in Germany, around twenty athletes from the Hebrew state were taken hostage by members of the Palestinian organization Black September. Eleven Israelis were then killed during this attack.