France has thwarted two terror plots targeting the Paris Olympics as the country prepares to vote in an election tomorrow.
The French government’s interior minister Gérald Darmanin said police carried out ‘several arrests’ in the two separate cases.
He told a news channel the government had not made it public because of the ongoing election campaign, but said the arrests involved people who may have planned and put terrorist attacks into place.
Mr Darmanin did not reveal the nature of the plots or who was behind them, however he said they are being handed over to the justice services ‘at this very moment’.
The politician said the terrorist threat in the nation remains ‘extremely high’ as it prepares to go to the polls in a historically divisive and violent election on Sunday.
The French government had not made it public because of the ongoing election campaign, but said the arrests involved people who may have planned and put terrorist attacks into place
The several arrested suspects are being handed over to the justice services ‘at this very moment’. Pictured: A Paris police boat sails down the Seine on Thursday
As the eyes of the world remain fixed on the French elections, the nation also has two big upcoming security challenges, Bastille Day on July 14 and the Olympic games which begin on July 26
France has faced a wave of civil unrest and mass protests following Emmanuel Macron’s surprise announcement of a snap parliamentary election on June 9.
Tensions are high as Left-wing and moderate groups try to prevent the anti-immigration and nationalist National Rally from winning an absolute legislative majority.
French citizens will cast their votes tomorrow in the second round of the chaotic election that is projected to give National Rally big gains in the lower assembly.
Mr Darmanin said his ministry has registered 51 verbal and physical attacks against candidates, their deputies or supporters during campaigning so far.
He said that several of the attacks were ‘extremely serious’, with at least 30 suspects ‘with extremely varied backgrounds’ having been arrested.
The politician added that their victims were also from across the political spectrum, with both National Rally’s candidates being violently attacked and Left-wing candidates.
Interior minister Gérald Darmanin (pictured on Friday) said the terrorist threat in the nation remains ‘extremely high’ as it prepares to go to the polls in a historically divisive and violent election on Sunday
Demonstrators gather in Place de la Republique, to protest against the right-wing National Rally’s victory in the first round of general elections in Paris on June 30
Protesters take part in a demonstration in Paris against the hard right National Rally on June 30
Demonstrators expressed their anger by starting fires and chanting following the first round
Marine Le Pen’s National Rally won the first round of legislative elections last Sunday on June 30
Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance lagged in a sorry third place behind the left wing alliance after the first round of voting
The National Rally, under party president Jordan Bardella, secured the most votes in the first round of the legislative elections on June 30 but not enough to claim an overall victory that would allow the formation of France’s first hard-right government since World War II.
Mr Darmanin said 30,000 police officers will be deployed on Sunday, including 5,000 in the Paris region, to ensure that the results of the election ‘are respected whatever they may be.’
He said gatherings outside of the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, have been banned.
A group called the Antifascist Action Paris-Suburbs called for a protest outside the National Assembly on Sunday night as results come in.
Around 30,000 police officers will be deployed across the country on Sunday, with 5,000 stationed around Paris.
Some people have voiced concerns that the surge in voter support for the anti-immigrant National Rally has made people feel more comfortable using racist, xenophobic and antisemitic language in public.
Anti-riot police officers push back protesters who had set piles of rubbish alight on July 1
Thousands of supporters of the Popular Front (Front Populaire, left coalition) march in streets near Place de la Republique on June 30, 2024 in Paris, France
People watch fireworks released during a demonstration against the French hard-right in Paris on July 1
A barricade burns as protesters demonstrate against the French far-right National Rally party
Bins were overturned and set alight, spreading acrid smoke into the air during the turbulent protests
Protestors smashed up shop windows in their own city on July 1
The government agency tallying racist acts did not have recent data since the election campaign began.
Government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot, who is a candidate for the centrist Ensemble alliance led by President Emmanuel Macron, said she and a deputy and a party activist were putting up election posters in Meudon near Paris on Wednesday night when a group attacked them.
Thevenot’s deputy and the party activist were taken to a hospital.
Macron called the surprise legislative election on June 9 after his alliance suffered a punishing defeat at the hands of the National Rally in French voting for the European Parliament, plunging the country into a sudden legislative campaign.
As the eyes of the world remain fixed on the French elections, the nation also has two big upcoming security challenges, Bastille Day on July 14 and the Olympic games which begin on July 26.
France has been under its highest terror alert level ‘Attack Emergency’ since March, after an Islamic State claimed terrorist attack killed 145 people at a Russian concert hall.
The upcoming national events have had long-planned security procedures in place, with the chief of the Paris Games previously calling them ‘unprecedented’.
Security preparations are being ramped up ahead of the Paris Olympics getting underway
France is staging the crown jewel of athletics and team sport this year with it being the first time since 2012 that the Olympics were held in Europe
A tourists boat makes its way on the Seine river as stands for the opening ceremony are installed on its banks
The unique opening ceremony is set to be the first to be held outside a stadium, with more than 10,000 athletes expected to sail along a 3.7mile stretch of the Seine in Paris on 160 barges
Organisers had originally planned to accommodate some 600,000 people to watch the ceremony from the riverbank, but this has been scaled down to 300,000
The unique opening ceremony is set to be the first to be held outside a stadium, with more than 10,000 athletes expected to sail along a 3.7mile stretch of the Seine in Paris on 160 barges.
Organisers had originally planned to accommodate some 600,000 people to watch the ceremony from the riverbank, but this has been scaled down to 300,000.
Military helicopters will patrol the city and protect airspace during the ambitious event, with a high-security zone described as an ‘anti-terrorism perimeter’ being set up in the first row of buildings along the route.
Around 89,000 security checks have been carried out on volunteers and security agents for the Games, with 45,000 security forces expected to be on duty for the opening ceremony.
An official of French intelligence services previously said, ‘the main threat (to the Olympic games) is Islamist terrorism’.
France previously faced a terror attack in October when a teacher was killed by an Islamist terrorist in a knife attack in a school in Arras.
Around 89,000 security checks have been carried out on volunteers and security agents for the Games, with 45,000 security forces expected to be on duty for the opening ceremony
And in December, a German man died and two others were injured in a knife and hammer attack near the Eiffel Tower by an Islamist extremist.
European security officials have previously warned of a growing risk of attacks by Islamist militants amid the Israel-Gaza war.
France’s terror alert system has three levels, and the highest level is activated in the wake of an attack in France or abroad or when a threat of one is considered to be imminent.
It allows for exceptional security measures such as stepped-up patrols by armed forces in public places like train stations, airports and religious sites.
