France halves crowd size for Paris Olympics opening ceremony on the Seine

The traditional opening parade for the Games is set to take place in boats on the river Seine on July 26, the first time a summer Olympics has opened outside the main athletics stadium.

After months of speculation about the number of people permitted to watch the flotilla, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told the France 2 channel on Tuesday "around 300,000" ticketed fans would attend.

That is half the 600,000 that Darmanin had suggested in 2022 and is even smaller than the most recent estimates of 400-500,000, underlining the complexity of securing an event over six kilometres (four miles) of river.

"I know that we have the best security forces in the world and that we will succeed in showing not only that we can win medals (at the Olympics) but that we can play host to the world without any problems," Darmanin told the channel.

The idea of a spectacular open-air parade with hundreds of boats gave cold sweats to many in the French security establishment because of the difficulty of controling the crowds and the risk of terror attacks.

Organisers and the Paris mayor's office had initially imagined up to two million people in attendance, a source close to the negotiations told AFP.

Authorities have also had difficulties in persuading historic Parisian booksellers who line the river from temporarily removing their kiosks in order to make space for spectators.

The artistic director in charge of the ceremony, theatre director Thomas Jolly, told AFP last week that contingency plans were in place in the event of a direct terror threat or severe weather.

"We have lots of different plans, but the location for the ceremony will remain the Seine," he said.

Darmanin said that 100,000 tickets had been sold for the best vantage