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8 months ago
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French President Emmanuel Macron has admitted Paris 2024 could be forced to scrap its ambitious opening ceremony plans amid security concerns.
Organisers have been planning to hold a city-centre opening ceremony, marking the first time the spectacle will take place outside of a stadium.
Plans would see the near 10,500 athletes travel parade through the River Seine on boats.
Athletes will be taken down a six-kilometre route on around 170 boats, which will pass landmarks including the Notre Dame cathedral, the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde.
The route will end close to the Eiffel Tower, with the Trocadero gardens hosting the finale of the ceremony.
Paris 2024 organisers could be forced to scrap plans for a city-centre Opening Ceremony
Emmanuel Macron has admitted the ceremony could be scrapped if security risks are too great
Organisers have already nearly halved the number of planned spectators down to 326,000
Macron, speaking to French outlets BFM-TV and RMC, stressed that the security operation around the event will be raised to an 'exceptional level'.
The French president, however, admitted organisers could be forced to scrap their plans if security risks prove too great.
'This opening ceremony is a world first. We can do it and we are going to do it,' Macron said.
'But if we think there are risks, depending on our analysis of the context, we have fallback scenarios
'There are plan Bs and plan Cs.
'We are preparing them in parallel, we will do an analysis in real time. We have a ceremony which would be limited to the Trocadéro and which would therefore not cover the entire Seine.'
Macron confirmed an option would be for the opening ceremony to be relocated to the Stade de France, reverting to a traditional ceremony.
When asked by a caller who was worried about her son attending the ceremony, Marcon replied 'If there is a place where your son will be safe, it's there. We will screen all the people who enter and leave.'
Macron acknowledged moving the ceremony to the Stade de France is a possible alternative
The French President was speaking with 100 days to go until the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Security was ramped up Champions League matches last week after the ties were targeted with specific threats
The group threatened to kill fans in London, Paris and Madrid, and set tensions aflame in a missive from IS' propaganda wing
Macron's comments come a week on from an apparent threat by a regional branch of Islamic State to Champions League matches across Europe.
Security was ramped up in Paris - where Paris Saint-Germain hosted Barcelona at Parc des Princes - Madrid, for Real Madrid's clash with Manchester City, and at the Emirates, where Arsenal played host to Bayern Munich.
All three ties went ahead without incident, but French authorities went as far as drafting in their elite counter-terrorism BRI (Research and Intervention Brigade) after a post was shared by the Al-Azaim Foundation, a media channel responsible for spreading messages from the ISIS-K branch of the terror group.
ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the deadly terror attack on Crocus City Hall in Moscow last month.
The attack led to the French Government increasing its security alert to its highest level.
Reports last week claimed German security officials believe the group could target this summer's European Championships.
Paris 2024 organisers last month nearly halved the number of spectators permitted to attend the city-centre opening ceremony, cutting numbers from 600,000 to 326,000.
A total of 104,000 spectators will be be ticket holders on the lower riverbanks of the Seine, with another 222,000 watching for free from the upper banks.
The free tickets will be by invitation only, rather than be available to the public via open registration.
Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi had claimed the ceremony could be scaled back further, but appeared to suggest moving the event to a stadium would be unlikely.
Paris has been planning to hold the first Olympic Games Opening Ceremony outside a stadium
The Olympic Games will begin in the French capital on July 26 and run until August 11
'You can adapt according to the level of risk,' Dubi told Sky News.
'So depending on the nature of the threat, of course this can be further reduced if need be.
'It was addressing an underlying question, which is 'can we revert back to another location, say, a stadium somewhere?'
'You cannot plan for a Plan B. It's far too big, too sophisticated, too complex artistically to look at a Plan B in another location.
'Plan B is reducing, adjusting, but it is that location.'
The Opening Ceremony will take place on July 26, with competition running until August 11. The Paralympic Games then follows from August 28 to September 8.
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