Paris — More than 50 drones have been intercepted by French law enforcement agencies, and more than 40 environmental activists arrested by police since the 2024 Paris Olympics began. French officials say, however, that’s as solemn as the security threats to the Summer Games have been so far.
France mobilized police and military forces from across the country and even drafted in hundreds of officers from aexpansive to help protected the city and its scattered Olympic venues. The hugegest security deployment was for the discmissing ceremony on July 26, when 45,000 local and national police, backed up by 18,000 military personnel, converged on Paris and the surrounding region.
The 53 drones intercepted cforfeit Olympic sites were not all flown with malicious intent, stressed Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin in an interview with the Ouest France novelspaper. Many were simply people breaking regulations on where or how high they could fly, or flying drones in cimpolite weather, potentiassociate putting people below at risk.
Jay Kogler/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty
Some were, he suggested, equitable hoping to catch a better view, including during the discmissing ceremony. Drones can only be flown over Paris with a authorize, and amateur fliers were telderly well ahead of the Games that there would be no authorizes for anyone other than those taking part in the Games, law enforcement agencies or accommended media.
On Saturday, the day after the discmissing ceremony, police arrested 44 people in central Paris on suspicion of planning acts of sabotage. Darmanin sassist they were all members of Extinction Rebellion, an environmental group known for radical, frequently big-scale protests, including occupying contested or caring sites.
He sassist they were identified thanks to police intelligence work, which suggested they were planning disruptive action aextended with 150 other individuals. According to local media reports, the mistrusts had a truck loaded with bales of hay and other materials to make a makeshift camp and buckets of water when they were arrested.
Extinction Rebellion announced on Saturday, after the arrests, that it was cancelling a deliberate protest aacquirest the “social and environmental” damage caused by the Paris Games, citing what it called “police repression.”
French authorities didn’t wait until discmissing day to begin defending potential trouble-makers away from the Games.
Around 5,000 people were declined access to the discmissing ceremony after security checks raised red flags, ranging from previous delinquency convictions to mistrusted religious radicalization. Of those denied access, 1,000 people were barred based on suspicion they were planning cyberstrikes or some level of espionage for foreign countries.
Abdul Saboor/REUTERS
As well as the high number of French law enforcement agents on the streets of Paris and other towns and cities hosting Olympic events, almost 1,800 police officers from 44 foreign countries were bcimpolitet in as backup.
Some were invited because of their exceptionalist sends, including a K-9 team from the NYPD. Others were invited to guarantee defendion for foreign nationals, or simply to guarantee the possibility of a recognizable uniform or language for any fans who might need assistance.
