Central Paris locks down for Olympics as athletes arrive

PARIS – French security forces have started locking down large parts of central Paris on July 18, ahead of the hugely complex and unprecedented Olympics opening ceremony next week on the River Seine.

The opening parade along 6km of the city’s famed river – the first outside of the stadium in Games history – led to the closure of riverside central districts to most vehicles from 5am onwards.

Anyone wanting to enter the highest-security “grey zone” along both banks of the Seine, such as residents or tourists with hotel reservations in the area, will need a security pass in the form of a QR code.

The City of Light is transforming ahead of the July 26-Aug 11 Olympics when around 10 million spectators are expected to be present in the French capital.

Temporary sports stadiums have sprung up at popular locations such as the Eiffel Tower, the Invalides or the Place de la Concorde, while new Olympic VIP lanes are the latest traffic-snarling addition.

“It’s true that our concept of having a large number of temporary sites in the heart of the city, obviously with that, there are constraints, but I feel like people are seeing what we’re doing,” Paris 2024 director-general Etienne Thobois said.

Many central Metro stations will also be closed from July 18 until the day after the opening ceremony, which will see 6,000 to 7,000 athletes sail down the Seine on around 100 barges and river boats.

Paris is proud that it will host a unique opening ceremony outside the main athletics stadium, with up to 500,000 people set to watch from stands, on the river banks and from the overlooking apartments.

But the vast security operation has been giving senior police officers cold sweat ever since it was announced in 2021 because of the difficulty of securing so many spectators in such a large, densely packed urban area.

Around 45,000 officers will be on duty for the July 26 parade, assisted by thousands of soldiers and private security agents.

On July 17, police in eastern France announced they had arrested a suspected far-right extremist who had made threats against the Games in a group on the Telegram phone application.

Meanwhile, the installation of tens of thousands of metal security barriers along the opening ceremony route in Paris has outraged some residents, who feel closed in.

“It’s a bit like being in Planet of the Apes,” Aissa Yago, who lives on the Ile Saint-Louis in central Paris, told AFP this week from behind a barrier.

“All they need to do is throw us some peanuts.”

While security is being fine-tuned to the best possible level, the first athletes have arrived on July 18 to take up residence in the newly built Olympic Village in a northern suburb of the capital.

Comprising around 40 different low-rise housing blocks, the complex has been built as a showcase of innovative construction techniques using low-carbon concrete, water recycling and reclaimed building materials.

It was intended to be free of air-conditioning, although Olympic delegations have ordered around 2,500 portable cooling units for their athletes out of fear of the impact of high summer temperatures on their performances.

“The major countries are going to arrive on the first day... so Britain, the United States, New Zealand, Brazil, Switzerland,” said the deputy head of the French delegation, Andre-Pierre Goubert.

At full capacity, the village will host 14,500 people, including 9,000 athletes.

With just a week left, Paris is now all set for the global sporting spectacle, which will then be followed by the Paralympics from Aug 28 to Sept 8. AFP