Pickpocketing, Terrorism, and More... Is Paris Security Reliable? [Paris Olympics]

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Emergency Alert Throughout Paris During the Game

The global sports festival, the 2024 Paris Olympics, has brought security issues to the forefront.

Fully armed French soldiers are patrolling around the Eiffel Tower in Paris on the 21st (local time). [Image source=Yonhap News]

The French government will deploy up to 45,000 police officers and gendarmes, along with 10,000 soldiers, during the Olympic period from the 26th of this month to the 12th of next month in Paris to prepare for terrorism and crime. Metal walls have been installed around the Seine River area, the venue for the opening ceremony, to prevent terrorism. Entry is not allowed without a pass. The French police have also strengthened pickpocket crackdowns and installed an additional 400 surveillance cameras around the Seine River.

The French Ministry of the Interior has denied passes to about 3,900 people, including Islamic radicals, far-left and far-right extremists, and those with serious criminal records, through strict identity checks. G?rald Darmanin, the French Minister of the Interior, recently told the Associated Press that “155 individuals considered very dangerous potential terrorist threats are being prevented from accessing the opening ceremony and events, and police sometimes search their homes to find weapons and other items.”

France’s maintenance of the highest level of alert during the Olympics is interpreted as a response to the continuous concerns about crime and terrorism leading up to the event. Authorities have been troubled by issues such as scams targeting tourists, pickpocketing, and terrorism even before the Olympics began. Less than a week before the opening ceremony, on the 18th (local time), a police officer was attacked with a knife near the Champs-?lys?es, a bustling area in Paris.

France previously experienced a series of large-scale terrorist attacks, including the November 2015 Paris attacks and the July 2016 Nice attack, and to quell public anxiety about large-scale terrorism, enacted the Anti-Terrorism Strengthening Act in November 2017.

This law significantly expanded the investigative authorities of law enforcement agencies, allowing police to impose house arrest or conduct house searches without prior court approval for individuals considered at risk of committing terrorism. It also permits the closure of religious facilities deemed to be inciting terrorism for up to six months and grants broad authority to law enforcement to close public places such as venues or stadiums where there is a terrorism risk.

However, incidents related to terrorism by radicalized individuals, such as the 2019 Paris police headquarters attack and the October 2020 Nice cathedral attack, have continued to occur, maintaining the heightened terrorism alert posture.

As a large-scale event attracting crowds, concerns about safety from firearms, bombs, and other terrorist threats have increased. According to a survey conducted on the 16th of this month (local time) by polling agency Odoxa commissioned by the French daily Le Figaro, the biggest concern among French people regarding the Seine opening ceremony was suicide bombing targeting the public (40%). Additionally, with 320,000 spectators invited to the Seine opening ceremony, concerns about crowd disturbances (30%) were also high, and 26% of respondents worried about knife attacks.

Paris, France, is also notorious among European travel destinations for pickpocketing and theft. Pickpocketing incidents targeting tourists occur frequently, so travelers need to be cautious. According to an analysis by the British travel insurance company Quarterzone in May, which examined pickpocketing cases per one million reviews by country, France ranked second with 283 cases. Italy ranked first with 463 cases, and the Netherlands was third with 143 cases.