Macron suggests possible relocation of Paris Olympics opening ceremony

• Originally, the ceremony planners planned to accommodate 600,000 people, but they have scaled it down to 300,000 people.
• Tourists will not receive free access to the ceremony, tickets will be available by invitation only.
• Macron acknowledges backup plans are in place, with plans to analyze these in real-time.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the Paris Olympics opening ceremony might relocate from the River Seine if the security risk becomes too high. Mr. Macron suggested limiting it to the Trocadéro across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower, rather than covering the planned stretch of the river.

He further suggested that it could even move to the Stade de France, reverting to a traditional ceremony. The opening ceremony, which marks the first to be held outside a stadium, will feature more than 10,000 athletes sailing along a 6km stretch of the Seine on some 160 barges.

Originally, the organizers intended to accommodate some 600,000 people to watch the ceremony from riverbanks, but they have now scaled that down to 300,000 people. Officials have already disclosed that tourists will not receive free access to watch the ceremony, as originally planned. Instead, tickets will be available by invitation only, not through open registration.

“This opening ceremony… is a world first. We can do it and we are going to do it,” Mr Macron said in an interview with French media outlets BFMTV and RMC.

But for the first time, he acknowledged that backup plans were in place.

“There is plan Bs and plan Cs”, he said, adding: “We are preparing them in parallel, we will analyze this in real-time.”

Security concerns have heightened following threats by the Islamic State group (IS) to Champions League quarter-final football matches in Paris, Madrid, and London.

Last week, Al-Azaim Foundation, a media channel responsible for spreading messages from the IS-K branch of the Islamist militant group, shared a post.

IS-K also claimed responsibility for carrying out the deadly attack on Crocus City Hall in Moscow last month.

French authorities have mentioned the possibility of a drone attack, amid concerns that the wars in Ukraine and Gaza could escalate the security threat.

In the same interview, Mr. Macron also stated that he would do “everything possible” to agree to an Olympic truce.

The French president referred to a historic tradition that mandates peace prevailing during the Olympic games.

“We want to work towards an Olympic truce and I think I need to engage with a lot of our partners,” he said, adding that he had asked the Chinese President Xi Jinping to help him achieve it.

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