Paris 2024: ‘Calm protests’ owing to overcrowding at press centre

Even before the official opening ceremony of Paris 2024 Olympics, the Main Media Centre was already filled beyond capacity, bustling with journalists and photographers.

Since Wednesday, (July 24), the LOC Media Operations have had to create extra spaces by opening up new seating areas and making one of the press conference rooms available for journalists to sit and work.

AIPS President Gianni Merlo, said: “Two days ago, we said there could be a challenge of overcrowding in the press centre as we get closer to the opening ceremony because there are not enough places. We wrote that there were only 300 places for journalists and 100 places for photographers, but the LOC has corrected us that there are 400 places for journalists and 100 for the photographers.

“But still this number is not sufficient. This is a big challenge now because more journalists have arrived in these days and concerns and calm protests have been raised regarding the few number of places in the workroom.

“The LOC press operations have opened two new seating areas where some colleagues can work in a better way, but we are still in an “emergency”, because the way in which the journalists work now is very different from the past and the needs are different. There are complaints about the refreshment, but this can be solved with a minimum of goodwill by the LOC. We have also been informed that the same problem of refreshment also exists in some Venue Media Centres.

“However, we have to also look ahead to the future because according to some study by the IOC, the percentage of people who use the Main Press Centre is reducing.

But I’m afraid that the situation has changed a bit compared to four years ago. The top events here are mostly at night so maybe a lot