Police threaten to disrupt airports at Paris Games over work conditions

PARIS – French police have threatened to disrupt airports during the Paris 2024 Olympics if their demands for bonuses and decent working conditions are not met, they said on Jan 18.

Law enforcement officers have been demonstrating in the French capital and elsewhere, demanding answers from the Ministry of Interior over their request for a €2,000 (S$2,900) “Olympic bonus” and guarantees that “social measures”, notably on child care during the summer, will be approved.

“We will cause fear (if our demands are not met),” Chafia Boutara, administrative secretary at the Alliance Police union, said as a dozen police officers demonstrated and lit blue flares in front of the Paris city hall.

“There will be tougher actions. We will block airports with officers taking not three minutes but 25 to check passports. Then you’ll see that the boss of Aeroport de Paris will pick up his phone and call the government.”

Last week, police officers paraded on open-top buses through Paris to urge the authorities to accelerate talks about labour conditions and pay during the July 26-Aug 11 Olympics.

Starting in the middle of the national holiday season, the Olympics are set to put a further strain on Paris’ workforce amid heightened security threats and chronic staffing shortages in the police, hospitals and public transport.

Some 30,000 police officers and soldiers will be mobilised to secure the opening ceremony on July 26, when some 500,000 people are expected to watch athletes and delegations sail along the Seine river.

“The ministry needs to understand that we’re 13 unions in this,” said Mickael Vinard, head of the police forensics union.

“We serve the State. We want the Olympics to be a success but our authorities have been turning a deaf ear to our demands. They should have anticipated that child care services will be closed, for instance.

“We want the people who come to Paris, Lille, Marseille or Tahiti for the Olympics to be safe.”

The surfing events at the Games are scheduled to be held on the Tahiti site of Teahupo’o.

Separately, navigation applications, such as Google Maps, have been asked by Paris’ public transport authority to restrict suggested routes during the Games to the ones prepared for travellers.

“We have asked (Google Maps, City Mapper and others) to relay our transport plans so that the traveller takes the route we have indicated,” said Laurent Probst, head of Ile-de-France Mobilites, the authority governing public transport network operators in Paris and the surrounding region.

He added that app providers may be asked to shut down their service if the companies do not comply with the request, deeming the issue a public safety concern.

The assertion was toned down later by the operator’s press department, which stated that “the closure of Google Maps is definitely not on the cards”, adding it was confident all providers will cooperate on the issue.

Google France did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on Jan 18. REUTERS