Emmanuel Macron says Olympics opening ceremony may be moved due to security fears

The opening ceremony for this summer’s Olympic Games, currently planned to be held on the River Seine, could be moved if the security risk is deemed to be too great, according to French president Emmanuel Macron.

France is on high security alert ahead of the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, which are expected to draw millions of visitors to the country. Security concerns are notably high for the opening ceremony, which involves boats carrying athletes along the Seine on a six-kilometre parade while huge crowds watch from the embankments.

And the Stade de France is now being proposed as a potential alternative venue, as a contained stadium is considerably easier to police than miles of exposed riverbank

Speaking to French media BFM-TV and RMC, Macron said France’s law enforcement forces will be mobilised at an exceptional level for the security of the open-air event but explained: “If we think there are risks, depending on our analysis of the context, we have fallback scenarios. There are plan Bs and plan Cs.”

The Paris 2024 event, taking place on 26 July, is set to be the first Olympic opening ceremony held outside a stadium setting with about 10,500 athletes parading through the heart of the French capital on boats on the Seine, ending in front of the Trocadero

To limit security risks, Macron said organisers could decide to shorten the itinerary of the parade on the Seine or even to “repatriate the ceremony to the Stade de France” for a more conventional opening event.

The initial plan was a grandiose opening ceremony for as many as 600,000 people, most watching free of charge from riverbanks, but security and logistical concerns have led the French government to progressively scale back its ambitions.

Earlier this year, the overall number of spectators was reduced to around 300,000 and they have also decided that tourists won’t be given free access to watch the opening ceremony because of security concerns. Free access will be invitation-only instead.

However, Macron insisted that, for now, plans remain the same. “It’s a world first. We can do it and we will do it,” the French president said.

France has been hit on multiple occasions by deadly Islamic State attacks, including the Bataclan theatre massacre in 2015 in which extremists opened fire on concert-goers and held hostages. French troops have also fought against Islamic extremists in the Middle East and Africa.

Last month, the French government increased its security alert posture to the highest level after the deadly attack at a Russian concert hall and the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility.

Macron said that security perimeters will be installed “days, even weeks” before the opening ceremony. He added that road traffic in the high-security zone will be brought to a standstill and that French authorities will use “drone systems, coding, cyber protection,” in their safeguarding efforts.

Answering a viewer who expressed concerns about her son attending the opening ceremony, Macron said: “If there’s one place where your son will be safe, it’s here.”

“There are always risks in life,” he added. “And we see it every day, unfortunately. But we’ve given ourselves the means to do it.”

During the hour-long interview, Macron also said he wants “to do everything possible to have an Olympic truce” for the Paris Games, amid a risk of an escalating conflict in the Middle East, Russia’s war in Ukraine, now in its third year, and Sudan, hurtling towards a large-scale calamity of starvation and mass death after a year-long war.

The Olympic truce is a modern revival of the ancient Greek tradition to ensure warring city states allowed safe passage for athletes to the games. Every two years, the host country of the upcoming Olympics introduces a UN resolution that other member states can co-sponsor.

“We want to work towards an Olympic truce and I think it is an occasion for me to engage with a lot of our partners,” Macron said, adding that he would ask Chinese leader Xi Jinping to weigh in and use his influence. “The Chinese president is coming to Paris in a few weeks, and I’m going to ask him to help me. This is a diplomatic moment of peace.”

Additional reporting by The Associated Press