As Paris prepares to unveil its unique Olympic opening ceremony—a river-based extravaganza featuring athletes on burnished barges parading through the heart of the French capital on Friday evening—the country’s police and armed forces are finalizing an equally unprecedented security operation on streets.
A crowd of disappointed tourists gazed wistfully on streets through the maze of metal fences lining the River Seine. Ahead of them, the Notre Dame cathedral and other Parisian landmarks lay tantalizingly out of reach.
“We don’t have a code,” said a woman from Mexico, watching as others—armed with the necessary QR security code—passed through a police checkpoint with an approving beep.
Further downstream, near the Eiffel Tower, a weary couple trailing large suitcases performed a slow U-turn on a crowded sidewalk. “Closed. You’ll have to walk around,” a French gendarme had just informed them, gesturing south.
“We are ready,” declared a cheerful President Emmanuel Macron, his customary swagger seemingly undiminished by weeks of political turmoil following his recent shock decision to dissolve the French parliament.
The security operation—an understatement given its scale—involves the largest peacetime deployment of security forces on streets in French history, with up to 75,000 police, soldiers, and hired guards on patrol in Paris streets at any given time.
Roads and metro stations have been closed, some 44,000 barriers have been erected, and an elaborate system of QR codes has been established for residents and others seeking access to the river Seine and its islands.
There have, inevitably, been teething problems and frustrations in a city that would ordinarily be teeming with unrestricted foreign tourists. “I’m a little bit worried. I’ve never seen it so calm. Ninety percent of clients have gone,” said a waiter, Omar Benabdallah, 25, surveying a sidewalk full of empty tables on the Île de la Cité.
But the French authorities insist the disruption will be brief—many of the barricades along the Seine will be removed after Friday’s opening ceremony—and worthwhile, treating the world to a spectacular show celebrating Paris’s history and beauty.
“I wouldn’t describe it as a nightmare. We’re focused and determined,” said Gen. Lionel Catar with a half-smile. He’s responsible for coordinating the work of some 5,500 French troops brought into the capital.
Gen. Catar acknowledged the “exceptional” scale of the Olympic and Paralympic security operation but explained that it had evolved from France’s pre-existing Opération Sentinelle, a decade-old response to a string of deadly attacks by Islamist groups and individuals. “We have demining teams, dog teams, anti-drone systems, radars, and divers patrolling the River Seine,” said Gen. Catar.
The decision to move the operational headquarters from the outskirts of Paris to the grand, sprawling “École Militaire” behind the Eiffel Tower was based on advice from UK police following their experience with the 2012 London Olympics. “I think their headquarters were a bit far from the city center. They advised us to be close to the politicians in charge and the police,” he said.
Some 250 British officers—and 50 police dogs—will be in France over the coming weeks, with some joining French foot patrols around central Paris. They are among 1,750 foreign police from dozens of countries, including Spain, Germany, South Korea, and Qatar, taking part in the operation. “We’re envisaging nearly half a million UK citizens coming to enjoy the Games. It’s the first time we’ve been able to deploy officers to a major event [abroad] in this way,” said Chief Superintendent Matt Lawler, head of the National Police Coordination Centre.
French officials say there have been no specific threats made towards the Games, but they are concerned about “militarized terrorism”—either from abroad or within France. They are also focused on the risk of cyber-attacks that could target ticketing systems and other infrastructure.
In recent months, the government has expressed growing anger at what it believes is a Kremlin-backed online campaign to raise exaggerated fears about security for—and about French preparedness for—the Olympics. “Interference and distortion of information is not only being carried out by Russia but also by other countries that we’re watching closely. We’re not naïve. We’re hoping an Olympic truce will be observed by all countries,” said Gerald Darmanin, France’s interior minister.
On Tuesday, French police arrested a Russian man suspected of plotting acts of “destabilization” during the Games. Earlier the same day, on the outskirts of Paris, an elite squad of French police carried out another rehearsal for a hostage situation onboard a bus. Amid gunfire and loud explosions, the unit—the same that responded to the 2015 Bataclan attack—rescued civilian actors trapped inside the bus.
“We’re feeling impatient. We’ve spent more than two years preparing for these Games. Let’s hope we will not have to take any action,” said the unit’s commander, Simon Riondet.
