France beefs up security as Paris Olympics approach
Amidst clear blue skies today, additional French police have been visibly present across Paris, patrolling on foot around railway stations and in the vicinity of stadiums. Their presence aims to reassure the public amidst fresh concerns over potential attacks by the Islamic State group during European football events.
The increased security measures in Paris reflect a broader sense of unease throughout Europe, prompting governments to evaluate and respond to threats communicated through pro-IS media channels.
This situation also coincides with a complex period for France, as it gears up to host the Olympic Games in July amidst mounting suspicions that the Kremlin is actively sowing doubt and fear regarding the French government’s capacity to uphold citizen safety.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has affirmed that security has been significantly bolstered for the Champion’s League quarter-final match at the Parc des Princes in southwest Paris on Wednesday night. This decision follows an online threat directed at European sporting events, publicly acknowledged by Darmanin, originating from IS-linked sources. The IS-affiliated media channel has been reaching out to sympathizers in France and beyond, potentially emboldened by a recent IS-claimed attack on a concert venue in Moscow.
However, Darmanin sought to provide perspective on the threat and the heightened national security level, emphasizing that the risk of an IS attack is not unprecedented. He openly acknowledged the lack of specific intelligence regarding targeted locations or conditions for potential attacks. Darmanin highlighted the effectiveness of French security forces, citing their track record of thwarting two attacks since the beginning of the year and apprehending five individuals in separate cases over the past two weeks.
Despite the security concerns, two fans traveling from Toulouse for the PSG-Barcelona match expressed resilience in the face of potential threats. Julien, 21, remarked, “We are constantly aware of the terrorist threat, but we refuse to let it hinder our lives or deter us from attending an outstanding match.”
“We must not be afraid,” declared Alexandre. who’s 27. “If they are doing this communication campaign, it is above all to scare us and terrorise us, so that the French no longer go out. So we must continue to live, and show them we are stronger than that.”
But across Europe, with a long summer of sporting and cultural events ahead, governments are expressing growing concern about IS-K, as the jihadist group’s Afghanistan-based wing is known.
Germany now calls it the country’s biggest internal threat and is increasing security ahead of this summer’s European Football Championship, including the rare step of introducing land border checks.
In recent months there have been police raids targeting IS-K supporters in Germany, Belgium and Austria and reports by police of foiled plots, for example against Cologne Cathedral on New Year’s Eve.
But finding the right balance between security preparations and public reassurance is never easy, and France faces some particularly tricky challenges with the Olympic Games due to begin with an unprecedented opening ceremony along the river Seine in the heart of Paris in little more than 100 days.
The right-leaning French newspaper, Le Figaro, has already warned that too much attention is being given to IS threats, claiming that “the propagandists of the Islamic State have already achieved part of their objective”.
French security expert Guillaume Farde argued that it was important for a democracy like France to be seen not to be cowed, otherwise “we are playing the game of terrorist organisations who want to establish a climate of terror, a climate of distrust”.
France has experienced many devastating Islamist incidents in recent years, from the Charlie Hebdo killings of 2015, the Bataclan attack of the same year, the Bastille Day murders in Nice in 2016, and a series of brutal murders of teachers.
The authorities have responded with Operation Sentinelle, a military force focused on protecting people from terrorist threats. Twenty thousand soldiers will be involved in securing the Olympic Games in Paris, alongside some 40,000 police and gendarmes.
But the war in Ukraine has added a new dimension, with President Emmanuel Macron warning that Russia now presents “a risk” to the Olympics.
President Macron has taken an increasingly tough line with the Kremlin, which appears to have responded with an aggressive cyber-campaign designed to discredit France at every opportunity.
“I’m not going to link Russia with jihadist terrorist organisations. On the other hand, Russia is attempting other destabilising actions,” said Guillaume Farde, citing examples of online cyber-trolling networks, linked to Russia, seeking to spread false information and to amplify “bad news”.
The French defence ministry, for example, recently took the rare step of publicly denouncing a fake, copy-cat version of its own official website, which appeared to invite 200,000 French people to “get involved” in Ukraine.
Analysts believe it is part of a broader Kremlin-backed campaign to weaken Western support for the Ukrainian war effort.
