Paris (AFP) – Seven months before the Paris Olympic Games, up to a million people are expected on the Champs-Elysées on Sunday evening for the New Year festivities, in a context of a “very high” terrorist threat.
Published on: 12/31/2023 – 05:37 Modified on: 12/31/2023 – 05:35
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Musical entertainment – three female DJs and singer Slimane, France’s candidate for Eurovision – giant ola and karaoke, aerial circus, before the traditional countdown at 11:40 p.m. and fireworks at midnight above the Arc of Triumph: to celebrate “the entry into the Olympic year”, the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, who will be present, has planned more important festivities than at the end of 2022, supposed to last from 7:00 p.m. to 12:10 a.m.
The authorities expect to see 700,000 to 1 million people arrive on the Champs-Elysées, and more than 1.5 million spectators in total in the capital.
To secure the transition to the new year, 6,000 law enforcement officers will be mobilized on Sunday in Paris, Gérald Darmanin announced on Friday.
In total, more than 90,000 police officers and gendarmes will be mobilized throughout the country.
In the capital, vehicle traffic will be prohibited from 4:00 p.m. in a large area around the avenue, mainly in the 8th arrondissement.
Bag checks and pat-downs should make it possible to remove weapons, weapons by destination and bottles, which are prohibited on the secure perimeter. The sale of alcohol in the surrounding area will also be prohibited.
This security system was prepared “in a context of very high terrorist threat due to the conflict in Israel and Palestine”, underlined the Minister of the Interior.
Prohibited demonstrations
The Urgence Palestine collective, which calls for a “ceasefire” and a “lifting of the blockade” of Gaza, as well as an end to the “genocide” of its population, called for Palestinian flags to be deployed just before midnight on the Champs-Elysées.
But “protest demonstrations will be prohibited” on the avenue, warned police prefect Laurent Nuñez, guaranteeing “strict application of this ban”.
The fireworks on January 1, 2023 on the Champs-Elysées © JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP/Archives
Urgence Palestine clarified that it was not a “call to demonstrate, but to take part in existing celebrations with a Palestinian flag”.
On December 2 near the Eiffel Tower, a 26-year-old Franco-Iranian, known to the intelligence services for his radical Islamism and his psychiatric disorders, killed a German-Filipino tourist with a knife, and injured two other people with blows. of hammer.
This attack relaunched the question of security in view of the Olympic Games in the capital (July 26 – August 11), and in particular that of the opening ceremony on the Seine.
Asked about the capacity to accommodate several hundred thousand spectators on the banks of the Seine without incident – the number of free spectators has still not been made official – the organizers regularly cite New Year’s Eve on the Champs-Elysées as an example.
On December 20, President Emmanuel Macron assured that there were “obviously plan Bs” for the opening ceremony, “in the event of a potential threat”.
© 2023 AFP
2023-12-31 07:03:13
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