“Terrorist groups continue plotting possible attacks in France,” said a travel alert from the U.S. State Department updated Friday. It is one of many warnings surrounding the country as the 2024 Summer Olympics are poised to begin.
Spectators were expected to gather along the banks of the Siene in Paris Friday for a groundbreaking Opening Ceremony – the first held outside of a stadium. While this choice is intended to bring the public closer to the games, it also increases already heightened concerns about safety.
“Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, local government facilities, hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, parks, major sporting and cultural events, educational institutions, airports, and other public areas,” said the U.S. State Department. It also offered tips for those who are traveling to France during the games, which are scheduled to be held through Aug. 11.
An arson attack on the French high-speed rail network preceded the start of the games Friday, according to the Associated Press. French officials said there was no sign that the attack was directly linked to the Olympic Games, but it managed to paralyze travel for around 800,000 people, including Olympic athletes.
“The Olympics are supposed to transcend politics and bring the world together through peaceful competition, if only for a couple of weeks. But that large a bull’s-eye, with so much of the world paying attention, makes for an almost irresistible target for those whose causes are antithetical to peace,” said Frank Figliuzzi, former assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI and current MSNBC columnist.
He said that the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life earlier this month during his Butler, Pa., campaign rally is an example of how quickly violence can take hold at a public event, which is bringing in an expected 15 million visitors. Figliuzzi noted that arrests related to threats against the Olympics started even before the Games did.
“On July 17, French anti-terror police arrested a suspected neo-Nazi who allegedly planned to attack the Olympic torch relay. Prosecutors said the suspect runs a group called ‘French Aryan division’ on the Telegram social media platform and was being questioned over death threats, hate speech and other postings,” he said. That arrest followed the arrest of an 18-year-old ethnic Chechen who authorities discovered had exchanged encrypted messages with “known Islamists” and was allegedly planning to target an Olympic soccer stadium.
By Friday, Paris was on lockdown, Figliuzzi said.
“Terrorism of all shades will be the primary security threat to the Games. The threat poses such a concern that the number of planned spectators allowed to watch the Olympic torch relay along the Seine during the opening ceremony was reduced in half, from 600,000 to 300,000,” he added.” French authorities have already banned 4,000 people from even getting near the Olympic sites based on the potential threats they pose.”
Reuters reported Friday that 28-year-old paramedic Seifelislam Benadda was one of the people who French authorities ordered to stay in his town after he was identified as a potential threat to the games. He was shocked when he found out and eventually officials agreed he posed no threat.
Benadda had planned to attend the opening ceremony, but now he’s scared of going.
“As part of a vast security operation for the Paris Games, which start on Friday, authorities have turned to powers passed under a 2017 anti-terror law, placing 155 people under surveillance measures that strictly limit their movement and oblige them to register daily with police even though some have never faced criminal charges, according to official data and a Reuters review of cases,” said the outlet of other arrests ahead of the Olympics.
Figliuzzi explained that the global threat level is heightened as two wars continue – the Israel-Hamas War in the Middle East and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Although Russia has been banned from competing in the games, 15 Russian participants will be permitted and they’ll be identified as Individual Neutral Athletes. He said Russia isn’t happy and that there have also been concerns about a Russian cyberattack.
“It’s a hell of a way to start the Olympics,” said Sarah Moseley, a 42-year-old traveler waiting at the Gare du Nord station in Paris amidst the news of the arson attack Friday, per the AP.