07/26/24 06:07:00
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07/26 18:05 CDT Olympics opening ceremony saw no major reported issues, French
official says
Olympics opening ceremony saw no major reported issues, French official says
By SYLVIE CORBET
Associated Press
PARIS (AP) --- France's interior minister praised security forces after no
major issues were reported Friday during the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
Authorities had deployed a massive security operation in Paris to keep the
event safe. The capital's streets were blocked off, with squadrons of police
patrolling and imposing metal-fence security barriers erected like an iron
curtain on both sides of the River Seine. Up to 45,000 police and gendarmes as
well as 10,000 soldiers have been deployed for Olympic security.
Here's a look at what's happened with security so far:
No major incidents at opening ceremony
"We did it," French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on the social
platform X, praising an "event without incident."
"After four years of intense work to prepare for the world's biggest sport
event, we have never been prouder of our security forces," he tweeted.
Paris police tweeted "plan A" with a video of river officers watching the
sparkling Eiffel Tower, in a reference to previous comments by French President
Emmanuel Macron acknowledging plans could be revisited for security reasons if
needed.
All Parisian bridges were closed to both vehicles and pedestrians as a vast
anti-terrorism perimeter along the banks of the river sealed off a
kilometers-long (miles-long) area to those without tickets for the ceremony.
French rail network sabotaged
Widespread and "criminal" acts of vandalism including arson attacks hit
France's high-speed rail network Friday. The acts delayed or halted travel to
Paris from across the rest of France and Europe for hundreds of thousands of
people, including some Olympic athletes heading to the opening ceremony.
Three fires were reported near the tracks on the high-speed lines of
Atlantique, Nord and Est. French officials condemned the attacks as "criminal
actions."
Prosecutors opened a national investigation into the crimes --- among them
property damage threatening the nation's "fundamental interests" --- that could
carry sentences of 10 to 20 years.
Brazil soccer legend robbed
Paris prosecutors said Friday that they opened an investigation after Brazilian
soccer great Zico reported a robbery.
Zico, a member of the Brazilian delegation attending the Olympics, said "a bag
containing valuables had been stolen from his vehicle, which had a window open,
in the 19th district of Paris," according to prosecutors' statement.
Thwarting plots against the Olympics
French authorities have foiled several plots to disrupt the 2024 Olympics,
including arresting a Russian man, just days before the Games officially kick
off.
France has been on high alert over the past few weeks as preparations to host
the Olympics hit the final stretch.
The city has repeatedly suffered deadly extremist attacks and international
tensions are high because of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
Paris prosecutors said this week that they had arrested a 40-year-old Russian
man at his Paris apartment on suspicion of planning to "destabilize the Olympic
Games."
Blocking suspects from the Games
France's interior minister said about 1,000 people suspected of possibly
meddling for a foreign power have been blocked from attending the Olympics.
About 1 million background checks have scrutinized Olympic volunteers, workers
and others involved in the Games as well as those applying for passes to enter
the most tightly controlled security zone in Paris --- along the banks of the
Seine --- ahead of the opening ceremony.
The checks blocked about 5,000 people from attending, Interior Minister Gerald
Darmanin said. Out of them, about 1,000 people were suspected of foreign
interference --- or spying, he said.
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AP journalists Thomas Adamson and Catherine Gaschka contributed.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
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