Paris 2024 Olympic Games: Trocadéro, Stade de France… in the event of a terrorist threat, what options for the opening ceremony ?

Prévue sur la Seine, la cérémonie d’ouverture pourrait aussi se tenir au Trocadéro ou au Stade de France selon le contexte lié à la menace terroriste. Illustration MAXPPP

This Monday, April 15, Emmanuel Macron symbolically launches the countdown to the Paris Olympic Games. During an interview with BFM and RMC before a site inspection of the Grand Palais in Paris, which is to host several events, he notably mentioned security during the opening ceremony.

In a particularly tense international context, security during the Olympic Games organized in Paris this summer is on everyone's minds.

And the opening ceremony, which is expected to bring together a particularly dense crowd, is the subject of numerous questions, as evidenced by the intervention of a viewer this Monday, April 15 on BFM, who asks Emmanuel Macron if his son will be safe.

Securing the perimeter days, weeks before

"Why want to impress the world and maintain the ceremony on the Seine despite the risk of attack", she asks. The President replies that the aim of the ceremony is to show the most beautiful face of France and that we know how to do extraordinary things.

💬​ "S'il y a un endroit où votre fils sera en sécurité, c'est là"

​➡️​ Emmanuel Macron répond à une auditrice sur les craintes d'attentat pendant la cérémonie d'ouverture pic.twitter.com/aij0vl48gd

— BFMTV (@BFMTV) April 15, 2024

"We gave ourselves the means. We have intelligence and intelligence resources fully mobilized for this opening and we will set up an entire security perimeter days before, even weeks before" . "I tell you, if there is a place where your son will be safe, it’s there", he assures.

Limited to the Trocadéro or repatriated to the Stade de France

But faced with a very real threat, the President recalls that alternatives to the ceremony on the Seine are however being considered.

In the event of a terrorist threat, the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, scheduled on the Seine on July 26, could thus be< em> "limited to the Trocadéro", even "repatriated to the Stade de France", Emmanuel Macron declared Monday on BFMTV and RMC.

"This opening ceremony" along the Seine, “this’is a first in the world. We can do it and we will do it,” the president said in an interview to mark the countdown to 100 days of the Olympics. But "there are plans B and even plans C", "and we prepare them in parallel", & ;quot;we will do a real-time analysis" risks, he added.