Paris Olympics: Opening ceremony could be cut back again over security fears
The ambitious Paris opening ceremony plans could be scaled back further due to security concerns, the Olympic chief managing the event has told Sky News.
But Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi insisted they want to preserve the spectacular, unique parade by athletes down the River Seine while not risking their safety.
Mr Dubi was speaking as the French government ordered new restrictions on the crowd for the 26 July extravaganza – with tickets no longer freely available to the public but by invitation only.
“You can adapt according to the level of risk,” Mr Dubi told Sky News at Paris 2024 HQ.
“So depending on the nature of the threat, of course this can be further reduced if need be… and it was addressing an underlying question, which is ‘can we revert back to another location, say, a stadium somewhere?’
“You cannot plan for a Plan B. It’s far too big, too sophisticated, too complex artistically to look at a Plan B in another location. Plan B is reducing, adjusting, but it is that location.”
Even with a downsized crowd, the Paris opening ceremony will be like none before it.
There will still be more than 300,000 watching officially from the side of the Seine and thousands more on balconies to glimpse the 94 boats sending thousands of athletes down the river.
There will be an unprecedented closure of the airports and airspace for a 150km radius throughout the ceremony.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) used to avoid talk of alternative plans until the pandemic, when the Tokyo Games were postponed until 2021.
“It showed the world that you’d better have a Plan B and a lot of determination,” Mr Dubi said.
Global conflicts and geopolitical tensions have increased the threat – on the ground, online and from the skies.
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Security fears over Paris Olympics
“Drones currently can be used as weapons, of course, and there is a whole plan that is developed by the ministry and it’s a very sophisticated one to meet with the challenge,” Mr Dubi said.
“But, also, what the people we have with us this morning are doing is to leave no stone unturned and looking everywhere there is a threat. And that’s what security planning is about.”
Mr Dubi was speaking after the final gathering before the Games of the IOC’s Coordination Commission.
Sky News was granted exclusive access to part of the boardroom meeting of the commission, which features representatives from the IOC, sports, athletes and the local organising committee.
“There is still a lot of work indeed” was the early message delivered by one official to the group.
While there is only the Aquatics Centre still to be opened, final planning involved a tour of the Olympic Village to check where athletes will stay and keeping a close check on those security plans.
How the opening ceremony could look. Pic: Paris 2024
Mr Dubi stressed to Sky News that “safety and security” is “first in any of the conversations”.
“The cyber environment in the world for anyone… has become absolutely critical,” he said.
“Do we plan for cyber security? Absolutely. And is it at the level of the organising committee and going back up to the state being involved? Absolutely.”
The fraught geopolitical climate just heightens the risk.
Russia is aggrieved at being banned from competing as a team in Paris after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, although some of its athletes can compete as neutrals.
There will be Israeli – and potentially Palestinian – competitors too. The Israel-Hamas conflict is set to heighten tensions around the Games.
An Israeli swimmer was booed by the crowd at the World Aquatics Championships in Qatar last month after winning silver.
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There are greater freedoms for activism now at the Olympics, but the IOC is hoping for a sporting celebration rather than an event that sparks further divisions.
“The Games is the international community coming together as one,” Mr Dubi said.
“And as much as possible to give the message of unity and peace can be dominant over any others.”
World
Suspects arrested over Louvre heist ‘partially admit involvement’ – as officials address inside job theory
The two suspects arrested over the Louvre jewellery heist have “partially” confessed to their involvement in the robbery, according to a prosecutor.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau revealed the development at a news conference on Wednesday.
Four thieves stole nine items – one of which was dropped and recovered at the scene – in a heist pulled off while the world-famous Paris museum was open to visitors on 19 October.
It took the thieves less than eight minutes to steal the jewels. They forced open a window and cut into cases with power tools after gaining access via a vehicle-mounted mechanical lift.
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Suspects in Louvre robbery ‘partially confessed’
Ms Beccuau also said the jewels had not yet been recovered.
“These jewels are now, of course, unsellable,” said Ms Beccuau. “Anyone who buys them would be guilty of concealment of stolen goods. It’s still time to give them back.”
‘No evidence’
Ms Beccuau also addressed reports that police believe the robbery could have been an inside job.
She said that there was “no evidence the thieves benefited from inside help”.
Under French rules for organised theft, custody can run up to 96 hours. That limit is due to expire late on Wednesday, and prosecutors must charge the suspects, release them or seek a judge’s extension.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau speaks during a press conference about the investigation into the Louvre robbery. Pic: Reuters
One suspect is a 34-year-old Algerian national who has been living in France since 2010, Ms Beccuau said. He was arrested Saturday night at Charles de Gaulle airport as he was about to fly to Algeria with no return ticket.
Ms Beccuau said that he was living in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers, and was known to police mostly for road traffic offences.
The other suspect, 39, was arrested Saturday night at his home in Aubervilliers.
“There is no evidence to suggest that he was about to leave the country,” said Ms Beccuau.
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Louvre jewels ‘have not returned’
The man was known to police for several thefts, and his DNA was found on one of the glass cases where the jewels were displayed, and on items the thieves left behind, she added.
Earlier, French police acknowledged major gaps in the Louvre’s defences.
Paris police chief Patrice Faure told politicians that ageing security systems had left weak spots.
“A technological step has not been taken,” he said.
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Mr Faure also revealed that the Louvre’s authorisation to operate its security cameras quietly expired in July and had not been renewed.
He said the first alert to police came not from the Louvre’s alarms, but from a cyclist outside who dialled the emergency line after seeing helmeted men with a basket lift.
Members of a forensic team inspect a window believed to have been used by the culprits. Pic: Reuters
Mr Faure also rejected calls for a permanent police post inside the museum, warning it would set an unworkable precedent and do little against fast and mobile thieves.
“I am firmly opposed,” he said. “The issue is not a guard at a door; it is speeding the chain of alert.”
World
Israel carries out fresh strike on Gaza and accuses Hamas of preparing ‘imminent terror attack’
The Israeli military says it has carried out a fresh strike on Gaza, in a move that will further raise concerns about the fragility of its ceasefire with Hamas.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it conducted the strike on what it called “terrorist infrastructure” in the area of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.
It said the site was being used to store weapons that it claimed were “intended to be used for the execution of an imminent terror attack against IDF soldiers”.
“IDF soldiers in the southern command remain deployed in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat,” a spokesperson said.
People living in Gaza City said they heard an explosion in Gaza and saw a column of smoke.
Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered earlier strikes after claiming troops had come under fire. Pic: Reuters
It comes after hospital officials said at least 104 people, including 46 children, had been killed overnight in Gaza after Israel launched new strikes.
Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the strikes after an Israeli official reported that troops had come under fire in southern Gaza.
Israel claimed a soldier was killed on Tuesday afternoon by “enemy fire” in the southern city of Rafah.
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The decision also followed Hamas’s handover on Monday of body parts that Israel said belonged to a hostage whose remains were partly recovered earlier in the conflict.
Hamas has denied any role in the Rafah shooting and reaffirmed its commitment to the ceasefire.
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The recent ‘ferocious’ attacks are the deadliest strikes since the ceasefire agreement took hold earlier this month.
‘Nothing is going to jeopardise the ceasefire’
US President Donald Trump had said the ceasefire was not at risk, telling reporters: “As I understand it, they took out an Israeli soldier.”
He added: “So the Israelis hit back and they should hit back. When that happens, they should hit back. Nothing is going to jeopardise [the ceasefire].
“You have to understand Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave.”
Following the latest strikes, the Israeli military said it would continue to uphold the ceasefire agreement. It added that it would respond firmly to “any violation”.
Donald Trump said the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas was not at risk. Pic: Reuters
‘Very disappointing and frustrating’
Qatar’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, said on Wednesday that the attack on the Israeli soldier and the following airstrikes had been “very disappointing and frustrating for us”.
Qatar had been leading peace efforts in Gaza, along with the US and Egypt.
At the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, al-Thani said Hamas militants had been clear they were prepared to give up governance of the enclave, which they have run since 2007.
He added that Qatar had been pushing them to acknowledge that they need to disarm.
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