Keeping the Paris Games safe

France is asking friendly nations to send large numbers of their police and military to help maintain security at the Paris Olympics.

France is currently on the highest level of terror alert following the Islamist attack in Moscow on March 22.

“The terrorist threat is real, it’s strong,” French PM Gabriel Attal told the media on March 25, revealing that two plots by suspected Islamic extremists had already been neutralised so far this year.

“Several foreign nations are going to reinforce us in certain critical areas like dog-handling where the needs are enormous,” a Defence ministry official who preferred not to be named told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on March 28.

Nor did he reveal how many people were likely to be involved.

Another official, this time from the Interior ministry – again requesting anonymity – told AFP that in January  France had asked 46 allies to send 2,185 police reinforcements.

Requests for foreign assistance were not unusual, the official stressed, pointing out that during the 2023 Rugby World Cup held in France, European countries sent 160 police officers to assist with security.

“It’s a classic move for host countries ahead of organising major events,” he said.

Poland’s Defence Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has already announced that the country would be part of an international coalition created by France for the Games which will be held between July 26 and August 11.

Soldiers with sniffer dogs would be deployed in Paris on explosives- detection and counter-terrorism operations, Kosiniak-Kamyszs said.

“The decisions have already been taken,” Joanna Klejszmit, a spokeswoman for the Polish Armed Forces General Staff, told the AFP.

“We are in the process of building a task force for the Olympics,” she said, explaining that Thierry Burkhard, France’s Chief of the Defence Staff, would be visiting Poland.

Germany has also pledged to send police to France for the Olympics, while French forces will also be travelling to Germany for the Euro 2024 football tournament in June and July.