Paris. A safety perimeter shall be in place in Paris, alongside the banks of the Seine River, from Thursday morning till July 26, when the Olympic Video games opening ceremony will happen.
Some 326,000 spectators – 104,000 in paying seats on the decrease quays and 222,000 free on the higher quays – are anticipated to attend the opening ceremony on the Seine, the primary within the historical past of the Video games to be held exterior a sports activities venue.
The anti-intrusion nautical barrier is lastly prepared on the river in jap Paris, and sonars are already in place on its backside.
The French military is deploying “distinctive means” to safe the boarding space for the ten,000 athletes who will participate within the opening ceremony of the Video games.
A battalion of some 800 specialised troopers has been mobilized for almost 15 days in an space 4 kilometers lengthy and two kilometers huge for a large-scale safety operation that may culminate on July 26, the day of the river ceremony that may mark the beginning of the Paris 2024 Video games.
“This mission is complicated and unprecedented,” mentioned Lieutenant Colonel Olivier, who gave his first title solely in accordance with military guidelines, throughout a press presentation of the unit on Wednesday.
The complexity is as a result of explicit atmosphere, as Paris may be very densely populated and the Seine may be very weak to potential intrusions by sea and air.
Among the many 800 troopers mobilized are fight divers, “partly liable for the safety of the underwater half”, river boats that management the areas on the Seine, intelligence analysis teams that management drones, in addition to looking groups and items in control of disrupting and/or deactivating any drone that penetrates the perimeter.
On board a ship, journalists attended a river patrol train. “It is a process that enables us to safe all the protected space on the Seine,” explains Captain Quentin.
The protected zone shall be activated from Thursday. From then on, solely authorised ships shall be allowed to enter it.
On the Charles de Gaulle bridge, the gate of the water barrier is about to shut.
The barrier is made up of nets on the floor “to permit the Seine to circulate freely”, however a internet could be rapidly lowered to the underside of the river if a risk is detected, mentioned Carl, a navy engineer.
On the banks, troopers apply flying business Parrot Anafi drones, an ultra-fast mannequin that travels as much as 22 metres per second and is supplied with an infrared digital camera and high-performance zoom.
“Their mission shall be to maintain watch, clear up doubts and likewise act as a deterrent,” mentioned a soldier who recognized himself as Guillaume.
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– 2024-07-26 07:27:07
