France announces plans to lock down Paris in the week before Olympic opening ceremony

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on April 10 that large areas of central Paris would be locked down for most residents a week before the opening of the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Traffic on the Seine River is also limited to four locations.

Police are planning to set up a large anti-terror zone along the Seine River, where athletes will travel by boat during the opening ceremony on July 26, in the week before the 2024 Olympics.

About 20,000 households in the area will have to register with the authorities with QR codes to gain access. The rule also applies to people coming here for work and tourists booking hotel rooms or renting apartments.

The Paris metro system remains operational, except for about 15 stations in the anti-terror zone. This zone will be reduced after the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

A total of 326,000 tickets for the Paris 2024 Olympic Opening Ceremony will be sold or given away for free. Spectators will be divided into two groups, with 104,000 paying spectators placed closer to the banks of the Seine (the main stage of the opening ceremony) than the 222,000 who will receive free tickets.

In addition, about 200,000 people will watch the parade along the Seine from the balconies of buildings near this area, while 50,000 people will be present at fanzones (areas for fans) in the capital Paris.

According to the French Interior Ministry, the country's security forces are screening the records of about 1 million people ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, including athletes and people living near important infrastructure for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

On March 31, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced that around 800 people had been removed from the Paris 2024 Olympic team due to security concerns. The list included 15 people considered to be the most serious threats to national security.

The 2024 Paris Olympics will take place from July 26 to August 11, followed by the Paralympics from August 28 to September 8.

France has been on its highest alert for terrorist attacks since October 2023, after a suspected Islamist stormed a school in the north of the country and stabbed a teacher to death.

France has been repeatedly targeted by Islamist extremists over the past decade, particularly the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, while the current conflict in the Gaza Strip is also exacerbating tensions at home.