French authorities say they’ve foiled several plots targeting the 2024 Olympics in Paris
French authorities have foiled several plots to disrupt the 2024 Olympics, officials said Wednesday, two days before the opening ceremony of the Summer Games in Paris.
France has been on high alert over the past few weeks as preparations to host the Olympics hit the final stretch. The Games officially kick off with a lavish and high-security opening ceremony on the River Seine on Friday.
Paris prosecutors said Wednesday that they had arrested a 40-year-old Russian-born man Tuesday at his Paris apartment on suspicion of planning to “destabilize the Olympic Games.”
He was charged with “conducting intelligence work on behest of a foreign power” with an aim to “provoke hostilities in France,” crimes punishable with a 30-year prison sentence, according to a statement from the Paris prosecutor’s office.
The 2024 Paris Games are a made-for-TV Olympics with the Eiffel Tower, Château de Versailles, the Seine, and the Grand Palais each hosting events.
During a search of the suspect’s home, police found items that “raised fears of his intention to organize events likely to lead to destabilization of the Olympic Games,” prosecutors said.
The Games’ organizers are facing major security challenges, including cyberattack concerns, amid high international tensions because of Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.
There are also elaborate disinformation campaigns orchestrated out of Russia targeting the Olympics and France’s recent elections, according to French officials and cybersecurity experts in Europe and the United States.
Earlier Wednesday, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said in an interview Wednesday with broadcaster BFMTV that a young man was arrested in Gironde, a region in southwest France, on suspicion of “planning a violent action against the Olympic Games.”
On Tuesday, police arrested an 18-year-old man on accusations that he was planning to target the “organization of the Games,” Darmanin said.
Political upheaval and other issues plaguing Paris ahead of the start of the Summer Olympics threaten to dwarf whatever is floating in the Seine.
He did not give details on the suspect’s potential targets or whether they were in Paris or in other French cities hosting Olympic events that run through Aug. 11.
“We are still working on this case ... [we] avoid giving details ... but we think there is a link,” Darmanin said. “It’s been established that this person wanted to attack the Olympic Games.”
Paris has deployed 35,000 police officers each day for the Olympics, with a peak of 45,000 for the opening ceremony. In addition, 10,000 soldiers are taking part in security operations in the Paris region.
A 10,000-strong military force is patrolling streets and sites in the Paris region and carrying out other security missions.
France also is getting help from more than 40 countries that together have sent at least 1,900 police reinforcements, including a contingent from the Los Angeles Police Department. L.A. is hosting the 2028 Summer Games.
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