Riots add to Paris Olympics security worries one year from start

PARIS: As riots raged around France earlier this month, infrastructure for next year’s Paris Olympics risked becoming engulfed in the violence, adding a fresh worry for organizers who face a head-spinning list of security challenges one year before the Games start. Surveillance was increased around the under-construction Olympic athletes’ village, media center and swimming complex which are in the deprived Seine-Saint-Denis area of northeast Paris, one of the hotspots of the rioting. In the end, a building which will house a training pool suffered minor damage to its facade when an adjacent bus depot went up in flames and an attempted arson attack on the media center was thwarted by two alert security guards. “We were very close to having a major problem,” Nicolas Ferrand, head of the Solideo organization in charge of Olympics construction work, said afterwards. The chaotic street scenes were an unwelcome reminder of last year’s Champions League final in Paris, which was held at the national stadium in Seine-Saint-Denis that will host the athletics events at the Olympics. Gangs of youths preyed on football fans attending the 2022 climax to the European football season, many of whom were assaulted and robbed as they made their way out of the stadium. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach this week sought to reassure people planning to travel to Paris. “We are very confident that the Games can and will happen in a peaceful environment,” he told reporters.

The need to manage street crime around the Olympic venues is a challenge French security forces are familiar with, former national police chief Frederic Pechenard told AFP. “Delinquency, potentially riots, or strikes are worries for organizers, but