The threat of an Islamist terror attack is keeping top officials awake at night, just weeks ahead of the 2024 Olympics kicking off in Paris.
“Islamist terrorism remains our main concern,” Laurent Nuñez, chief of police in the French capital, told a press conference on Friday.
Nuñez added: “There is no clear-cut threat yet against the Games and our country but I’d like to remind you that at the end of May, two individuals were arrested in Saint-Etienne and were plotting a project aimed directly at the Olympic Games.”
France has been on high alert amid concerns over potential terrorist attacks as Paris prepares to host the Olympic Games, which will start on July 26 and end on August 11.
In March, France scaled down the River Seine opening ceremony, with 104,000 spectators now expected to enjoy the celebrations on the waterfront and 222,000 others watching from bridges and streets — dwindling from the 600,000 total floated by the French government back in 2022.
“The terrorist threat remains just as important as the protest threat posed by radical environmental groups, the ultra left and the pro-Palestinian movement,” police chief Nuñez added.