2023-05-23 11:02:35
For an exceptional event, an exceptional device. For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, an opening ceremony will take place outside the stadium on July 26, 2024 at 8:24 p.m. sharp, on 6 km of the Seine between the Austerlitz bridge and the Jena bridge. The 207 international sports delegations will thus sail on 115 barges passing in front of various monuments of Paris to end their cruise in front of the symbol of the capital, the Eiffel Tower. Expected attendance: several hundred thousand spectators (between 450,000 and 500,000 euros) on 12 km of upper platforms, including 100,000 with paying tickets on the lower platforms.
For the postcard, broadcast around the world, to be perfect, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, had already mentioned to the Senate the presence of 35,000 police and gendarmes for the occasion, a figure which he confirmed this Tuesday when a new step was taken in this organization 430 days from D-Day. The State, represented by the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Sports, the organizing committee and the town hall of Paris signed , under the chandeliers of the Ministry of the Interior, place Beauvau (VIIIth arrondissement), a protocol sharing responsibilities.
Gérald Darmanin details: « We are signing today, to face this immense challenge, the guiding principles which distribute our responsibilities for securing the ceremony. The state guarantees the security of the Games, the city of Paris manages the public space, Paris 2024 manages the organization of the sporting event and the course of the ceremony, with a common objective, that the most beautiful spectator experience possible”. In addition to the police, there will be private security agents – 33,000 people have been contacted in Île-de-France, 4,200 hires have already been made – and municipal police officers from the city of Paris.
“The opening ceremony is the main marker of the Games”
The tenant of Place Beauvau adds: “Five additional mobile force units will be deployed to the Prefect of Police from this month of August to work on securing public space in Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis” . The police are already at work since there are now 20 operations a day to fight against crime in key sites, including the Trocadéro (16th century) in particular.
On the distribution of tasks, on the high platforms, free for “several hundred thousand” spectators, the Ministry of the Interior will set up a secure pre-registration platform. “An essential tool to secure all flows”, according to Gérald Darmanin, who indicates that it will only be enough “this registration and an identity document” to be able to attend this ceremony.
For Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the Minister of Sports, the signing of this protocol “is an appointment which marks an important step forward which adds clarity in the roles and responsibilities. You have to anticipate the worst for the best to happen. We are all going to carry a message of audacity, of hope. The President of the Republic had said it in Tokyo: we want to make this ceremony unforgettable and popular. It is an extraordinary challenge that we are going to take up”.
“The opening ceremony is the main marker of the games, continues Tony Estanguet, president of the Organizing Committee. This is the most beautiful exhibition, the biggest audience of Paris 2024. We will have preparation exercises this summer. »
Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris continues: “For the party to be beautiful, we must of course guarantee security. There is no party without security. 2000 municipal police officers will be on the public highway. We must together prevent spoiling the party, to allow as many people as possible to enjoy it. »
“2 million people celebrated the post-Covid New Year in Paris and nothing happened”
A vigilance which will pass by a screening via the free ticket office in particular on the profile of the people who will register. “We will be extremely demanding of those who will go to the high quays, continues Gérald Darmanin. There will be no hierarchy, no choice. We think that a very large part of the people who will be interested will be able to participate”.
Anne Hidalgo agrees: “one of the objectives of the Games is its universal accessibility. There will obviously be places dedicated to people with reduced mobility, young people, children, social centers, a few special audiences, but most of the places granted to attend the ceremony will be through this ticket office open to all and all “.
As for the concerns that could be expressed about the excessiveness of the event and the risk that the party will be spoiled by the various cyber or terrorist threats facing the whole world, Gérald Darmanin replies: “2 million people celebrated the New Year post -covid in Paris and nothing happened”.
#Paris #days #unprecedented #opening #ceremony #protocol #party #beautiful