Paris is preparing for the largest and most beautiful opening ceremony in the history of the Olympic Games

The French capital is preparing for what Macron sees as the biggest opening ceremony in Olympic history. Authorities are also taking unprecedented security measures to address the terrorist threat.

On Friday, July 26, as part of the opening of the Olympic Games, 205 teams will sail 96 ships six kilometers along the River Seine – through the city center to the Eiffel Tower.

For the police, the Olympic Games are an organisational nightmare. Tens of thousands of police and soldiers from all over the country have been brought in to ensure the safety of the sporting events at 30 different locations in France.

However, experts are skeptical about how effective it is to protect athletes, fans and guests. In the newspaper Welt am Sonntag, security consultant Alain Bauer criticizes the ambitious plans for the opening ceremony on the water. “When you climb Everest for the first time in your life, you don’t need to hang 40 kilograms on everyone just to prove that you can do it,” says Bauer.

The participation of teams from the US and Israel has long been in doubt, but now it is known that both countries want to send flag bearers and small delegations. The Israeli team has 88 athletes, and according to BILD, a maximum of 20 people are planning to board the ship on Friday. Even Germany could send 471 athletes, but its ship has only 250 seats, which will not be fully occupied.

The big problem with the opening ceremony is logistics. The original plans to accommodate half a million spectators along the route have long been abandoned; now there are to be 100,000.

The banks of the Seine already look like a high-security zone: divers are working, armed special forces patrol on boats. Anti-terrorist units even practiced preventing hostage-taking on one of the large river vessels. The biggest danger is attacks by Islamists, as in November 2015, when terrorists struck simultaneously in five places in the city, including during the international match between France and Germany. Then 130 people died.

Drones are a new threat. Early warning systems and jamming equipment exist to protect against them. attacks from the air. All Paris airports will be closed for the opening ceremony, and the no-fly zone will have a radius of 150 kilometers. In addition, secret Service I checked all the residents of the buildings along the river, but there are still hundreds of apartments that are rented out to tourists.

Police officers check ID cards at every intersection, and crossing the bridge over the Seine has also become a challenge. A resident told BILD: “We have to register and can only access our area with a QR code.”

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