PARIS: The ambition of the Paris Olympics made them risky and difficult to police, but French security forces kept thousands of athletes and millions of fans safe – a “gold medal” performance, according to Interior Minister Gerald Darwin.
The two-week exercise, which ended on Sunday, led to a security operation unprecedented in recent French history, with some 75,000 police, soldiers and private security guards mobilized on opening night on July 26.
There have been incidents over the past two weeks – an attack on the French railway, a ground invader in the men's 100m final – but nothing that has marred the event as a whole, much to the relief of the organisers.
“These Olympics include big medals for France and a big gold medal for the Ministry of the Interior and the security forces,” Daronin said last week while visiting officers on duty in Marseille, southern France.
The self-satisfaction and self-congratulatory tone of his words reflected the pressure and many doubts in the run-up to the Games about whether France's already stretched resources could be up to the task.
Their first test was securing the Olympic torch relay, a journey through 450 cities and towns in France as well as overseas territories.
Then came a surprise parliamentary election in July, followed by an unprecedented opening ceremony along a six-kilometre stretch of the Seine that had given planners sleepless nights since its 2021 unveiling.
Police officers stand guard on the Seine River before the opening ceremony at the 2024 Summer Olympics on July 26, 2024 in Paris. (AP)
By the end, the 300,000 ticketed spectators watching from the riverside were met with nothing but torrential rain and the streets of the capital lined with uniformed officers.
“For those of us who have been here on Earth, we have seen the security footprint here. “It's impressive,” Team USA head of security Nicole Dale said on the day of the ceremony. I've never seen (one) in any other game quite like this.
The two weeks of competition saw packed stadiums, with 743,000 people attending the venues in one day on 30 July.
Other events, from triathlons to marathons, took place on the streets of the capital.
About a million people attended the men's and women's road cycling races on August 3-4.
“Without a doubt, the French security services deserve a gold medal,” French criminologist and university professor Alain Bauer, a staunch critic of the open-air opening ceremony, told AFP.
He said this was due to “exceptional investment” and “fundamental changes” that saw organizers significantly reduce the opening ceremony crowd under pressure from the Home Office.
Russia, which was excluded from the Games, was conspiring to destabilize them, French officials said, and France's cyber security agency was on high alert for attacks that could disrupt the organizing committee, ticketing or transportation.
The arrest of a 40-year-old man suspected of being a member of the Russian secret services on the eve of the games upset the nerves.
The war in Gaza, threats from the Islamic State group and a history of domestic Islamist terror plots and French far-right extremism also raised concerns about the possibility of an attack that would devastate the party.
However, not all security operations have found something to celebrate.
Charities have loudly complained about repressive policing of the homeless, sex workers and migrants ahead of the Games, while anti-Olympic protest groups say they are being prevented from exercising their democratic rights.
About 45 activists from the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion were detained by police a day after the opening ceremony as they prepared to occupy a bridge over the Seine River in central Paris.
The group Sacage 2024, which organizes so-called “toxic tours” to highlight the negative aspects of the games, said last week it was prevented from guiding a group of 20 people to sites in northern Paris.
About 30 riot police and four police cars stopped the excursion and three members of the group were taken to the local police station for questioning.
“No charges were brought against any of the arrested individuals at the end of the police arrest, further proof that this was indeed an attempt at intimidation,” the group wrote on Instagram.
