Paris Olympics: Emmanuel Macron says Opening Ceremony could be changed in case of terrorism threat

CNN
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French President Emmanuel Macron said authorities would have an alternative plan in the event of a terrorist threat at the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.

“If we think there are security risks, we will have a plan B, and even a plan C,” Macron said in an interview with CNN affiliate BFMTV from the Grand Palais in Paris, l one of the Olympic sites, during a visit Monday for the event. 100 days before the opening of the games.

Macron raised the possibility of “restricting the ceremony to the Place du Trocadéro de Paris facing the Eiffel Tower” or moving it to the Stade de France.

The president added that authorities would establish a security perimeter around the ceremony site a few days, or even weeks, before the start.

In early March, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced that attendance capacity for the ceremony – the first to take place along a river – would be halved for security reasons.

Some 104,000 people will be present in the stands along the Seine in Paris, and another 220,000 on the raised roadways along the six-kilometer (nearly four miles) stretch of the river that will host the ceremony, according to the French ministry of the Interior.

French authorities had for years boasted that some 600,000 people could attend the opening ceremony.

Last week, Parisian police stepped up security measures during the Champions League quarter-final between Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona.

The increased security presence followed a threat from the Islamic State terrorist group against the Parc des Princes and other European football stadiums hosting Champions League matches.