Paris police chief says biggest Olympic security worry is Islamist terrorism

The Paris 2024 Olympics podium seen in front of the Eiffel Tower on May 23, 2024, during its presentation to the press. (STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP)
The Paris 2024 Olympics podium seen in front of the Eiffel Tower on May 23, 2024, during its presentation to the press. (STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP)

Islamist terrorism is the main security worry ahead of the upcoming Paris Olympics, says the French capital’s chief of police Laurent Nunez.

France is on its highest level of security alert as the Games approach, with the country also preparing for snap legislative elections at the end of June.

“Islamist terrorism remains our main concern,” Nunez tells a press conference seven weeks before the Olympics opening ceremony, which will be held on and along the River Seine on July 26.

“There is no clear-cut threat yet against the Games and our country but I’d like to remind you that at the end of May, two individuals were arrested in Saint-Etienne and were plotting a project aimed directly at the Olympic Games,” he says. “The terrorist threat remains just as important as the protest threat posed by radical environmental groups, the ultra left and the pro-Palestinian movement.”

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