French President Emmanuel Macron admitted Paris 2024 could be forced to abandon its ambitious opening ceremony plans amid security concerns.
Organizers have planned to hold an opening ceremony downtown, marking the first time the show will take place outside of a stadium.
Plans would be for the nearly 10,500 athletes to parade down the Seine River in boats.
Athletes will travel a six-kilometer route in around 170 boats, passing emblematic places such as the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde.
The route will end near the Eiffel Tower, and the Trocadero gardens will host the end of the ceremony.
Paris 2024 organizers could be forced to abandon plans for a city center opening ceremony
Emmanuel Macron admits ceremony could be canceled if security risks are too great
The organizers have already reduced the number of expected spectators by almost half, to 326,000.
Macron, in statements to the French media BFM-TV and RMC, highlighted that security operations around the event will be raised to an “exceptional level.”
The French president, however, admitted that organizers could be forced to abandon their plans if the security risks prove too great.
‘This opening ceremony is a world first. “We can do it and we will do it,” Macron said.
“But if we think there are risks, depending on our analysis of the context, we have alternative scenarios.”
‘There are plans B and plans C.
‘We are preparing them in parallel, we will do an analysis in real time. We have a ceremony that would be limited to the Trocadéro and, therefore, would not cover the entire Seine.’
Macron confirmed that one option would be to move the opening ceremony to the Stade de France, returning to a traditional ceremony.
When a caller asked her that she was worried about her son attending the ceremony, Marcon responded, “If there’s one place your son will be safe, it’s there.” “We will screen everyone coming in and out.”
Macron acknowledged that moving the ceremony to the Stade de France is a possible alternative
The French president spoke with 100 days left until the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Security was stepped up at Champions League matches last week after links came under specific threats.
The group threatened to kill followers in London, Paris and Madrid, and stoked tensions in a letter from IS’s propaganda wing.
Macron’s comments come a week after an apparent threat by a regional branch of the Islamic State to Champions League matches across Europe.
Security was intensified in Paris – where Paris Saint Germain hosted Barcelona in the Parque de los Príncipes – Madrid, to real MadridThe clash with city of manchesterand in the Emirates, where Arsenal was host of Bayern Munich.
All three relationships developed without incident, but French authorities went so far as to recruit their elite anti-terrorist BRI (Brigade of Investigation and Intervention) after the Al-Azaim Foundation, a media channel responsible for disseminating messages from the Al-Foundation Azaim, shared a post. ISIS-K branch of the terrorist group.
ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the deadly terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall in Moscow last month.
The attack led the French government to increase its security alert to the highest level.
Reports last week claimed that German security officials believe the group could be targeting this summer’s European Championships.
Last month, Paris 2024 organizers almost halved the number of spectators allowed to attend the opening ceremony in the city centre, cutting the figure from 600,000 to 326,000.
A total of 104,000 spectators will have tickets on the lower banks of the Seine, and another 222,000 will be able to watch for free from the upper banks.
Free tickets will be by invitation only, rather than being available to the public through open registration.
Olympics chief executive Christophe Dubi had claimed the ceremony could be scaled down further but appeared to suggest moving the event to a stadium would be unlikely.
Paris plans to hold first Olympic opening ceremony outside a stadium
The Olympic Games will begin in the French capital on July 26 and will continue until August 11
“You can adapt based on the level of risk,” Dubi said. News from heaven.
«Depending on the nature of the threat, of course, this can be reduced further if necessary.
“I was addressing an underlying question, which is: ‘can we go back to another location, say, a stadium somewhere?’
‘You cannot plan a Plan B. It is too big, too sophisticated, too artistically complex to contemplate a Plan B anywhere else.
“Plan B is to reduce, adjust, but it’s that location.”
The opening ceremony will take place on July 26 and the competition will run until August 11. This will be followed by the Paralympic Games from August 28 to September 8.