In line with new studies, French authorities foiled three completely different terrorism plots to assault the Olympic and Paralympic Video games, each inside Paris and in different host cities across the nation.
5 folks, together with one minor, had been arrested in connection to the deliberate assaults, with the suspects going through varied prices. Their identities haven’t been launched presently.
French anti-terror prosecutor Olivier Christen stated that not less than one of many three assaults was directed at “Israeli establishments or representatives of Israel in Paris” amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. Nevertheless, Christen reaffirmed that Israeli athletes weren’t the goal of the deliberate assault.
Each earlier than and throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Video games, the nation of France was below strict safety measures, a lot of which had been directed inside the metropolis of Paris. Within the middle of town, many roads and walkways had been closely restricted, with a QR code required to enter previous sure checkpoints.
On the nationwide stage, different vital safety measures passed off earlier than the Video games, together with a big enhance in home searches and home arrests by French police forces. Current numbers point out that over 936 home searches have occured in France thus far in 2024, up considerably from the 154 reported over the identical time interval final yr.
As well as, the nation noticed a pointy enhance in its airspace defences, with the federal government deploying conflict planes, assault helicopters, surveillance plane, navy drones, and police drones to patrol the skies round Paris and the opposite host cities for the Video games. In line with lately launched numbers the French Air and House Power recorded over 750 flight hours in 350 missions, leading to 90 interceptions.
With the massive enhance in safety measures, each the Olympic and Paralympic Video games managed to proceed safely, with the Paralympic formally wrapping up final week. Nevertheless, there have been actually factors the place safety considerations remained excessive. On the eve of the Olympic Video games Opening Ceremonies, a coordinated arson assault on a high-speed railway simply exterior of Paris left many skeptical concerning the safety of the Video games. Happily, no person was harmed within the assault, although it triggered a big disruption to the nation’s transportation system. As well as, again in Might, police foiled a terrorist plot by which an 18-year-old had been planning to assault crowds on the Olympic soccer stadium in Saint-Etienne.
