As the world awaits with bated breath, the one-of-its-kind opening ceremony that Paris will host to throw the 2024 Olympic Games open, the spectre of myriad security threats looms large. (More Sports News)
The Paris Summer Games will arguably be the highest-risk Olympics in history. This argument is supported by the concerns voiced by insurers, who believe that cancellations and claims running up to millions of dollars is a distinct possibility.
It is also aided by the sheer number of staffers deployed to quell any potential threat to safety. Paris is enlisting around 30,000 police officers each day for the Games, with a peak of 45,000 for the opening ceremony on the Seine River.
So what are the reasons behind these worries?
Politically Charged Atmosphere
The Paris 2024 organizers certainly face unprecedented security challenges. The French capital has time and again suffered deadly extremist attacks, and international tensions are high owing to the bloodshed in Ukraine and Gaza.
The recent assassination attempt against Donald Trump has driven home the risks involved with hosting such a large-scale event. Attacks by lone individuals are a major concern, and the political instability caused by the hung parliament in French elections has only served to heighten the anxiety of authorities.
The Paris chief of police had said in June that the possibility of Islamist attacks is the top security threat to the Games. "It's such a large event ... in a very large city, which in itself is quite difficult to police," a Reuters report cited Andrew Duxbury, head of contingency at insurer Beazley, as saying.
This fear is not without basis. Just 72 hours ahead of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, a 40-year-old Russian man was arrested in the city on suspicion of planning to “destabilize the Olympic Games.”
On the same day, France interior minister Gerald Darmanin said in an interview with French broadcaster BFMTV that a young man was arrested in Gironde, a region in southwest France, on suspicion of “planning a violent action against the Olympic Games.” Another man was nabbed in the French town of Saint-Etienne in May, suspected of plotting a terror attack in the name of Islamic State at the city's football stadium.
Threat From Artificial Intelligence
And thus we have insurers worried, not just about militant attacks but also artificial intelligence-generated fake images. AI could be used to manipulate live broadcast feeds for spreading misinformation or committing fraud with the electronic ticketing system, they believe.
An instance of this emerged earlier this week, as French intelligence found that a video on social media supposedly showing a Hamas threat against the Olympics was fake, generated by AI and seemed to have links to Russia, as per a French security official.
In light of all this, Paris is on high alert for the opening ceremony. Squadrons of police are patrolling Paris streets, fighter jets and soldiers are primed to scramble, and imposing metal-fence security barriers have been erected like an iron curtain on both sides of the Seine River that will be the central attraction of the opening show.
