France to beef up Olympic security with deployment of 10,000 soldiers

Exceptional security measures will be put in place during the Paris Olympics this summer. Paris' military governor announced that a temporary camp of 10,000 military staff will be deployed in the Bois de Vincennes in eastern Paris.

The Olympic Games will take place in Paris between 26 July and 11 August 2024. AP - Michel Euler

With 22 weeks to go until the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics 2024, the military contingent in charge of the security for athletes and the public is gradually being unveiled.

In an interview with Le Parisien newspaper, Paris' military governor Christophe Abad gave further details of the exceptional logistics being put into place.

The10,000 soldiers will be deployed in the Île-de-France region, which takes place from 26 July to 11 August and housed in a military camp on the Pelouse de Reuilly, a large open space in the parkland known as Bois de Vincennes.

"We'll start setting up the camp at the end of April, with completion scheduled for the beginning of July", explains General Abad, justifying the camp's location by the need to be "as close as possible to the heart of Paris".

Typical overseas military operation camp

The camp, according to the military governor, will be comparable to the standards of those set up during overseas operations, with "removable wooden chalets which can accommodate 25 people and are air-conditioned to cope with the summer heat".

• Ply me a river: Seine to shine in Paris 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony

• France approves algorithmic video surveillance to safeguard Olympics

Abad said that if necessary, the time period for the traditional travelling amusement park known as the Foire du Trône would be "brought forward and slightly reduced".

"We're bringing a real city out of the ground", he sums up.

The army will also be responsible for security involving the boats taking part in the opening ceremony scheduled to take place on the Seine river on 26 July.

With the countdown well underway, France is scrambling to recruit security agents in the private sector - with around 20,000 posts still to be filled.

According to public broadcaster FranceInfo, each month, 24 to 36 trainees are trained in a special establishment in Seine-Saint-Denis, north of Paris.

They will be able to be part of the approximately 17,000 agents expected each day during the Olympic events.