RN tries to capitalize on ultra-secure Olympics

Has the National Rally, which has been rather discreet since the legislative elections, found a way to bounce back by taking over part of the Games? In any case, some elected officials are trying to capitalize on “ultra-secure Olympics”.

During this Olympic fortnight in Paris, you are “unknowingly” enjoying the joy of living in a far-right municipality. This is what Damien Rieu, the very influential far-right activist with his 230,000 followers on X, tweeted.

With this ultra-secure Paris, these games would be the RN’s laboratory of ideas. This is the little music that has been playing for a few days. The deputy of Haute-Marne Laurence Robert-Dehault declares that “since the start of the Paris 2024 Olympics, insecurity in the capital has drastically decreased. More police officers and gendarmes = public tranquility and restored serenity. This is what we are proposing to the RN”.

Matthias Renault, National Rally MP for the Somme, believes that “Olympic Paris is secure. There are no more pickpockets or street vendors” and he makes the connection with a circular from March that organized the temporary evacuation of migrants and their camps. “The residents are happy. Surprising, isn’t it?”

Is it true ?

The hyper-security presence is real: 35,000 police officers and gendarmes, 18,000 Sentinelle soldiers and several thousand private security agents mobilized every day. In 10 days, there were 200 arrests, but the drop in crime for Paris and the inner suburbs actually dates back to before the Games. 40% less violence on public transport since January 1, 2024, 21% less burglaries in Saint-Denis and 50% less violent robberies.

Should we see this as a strategy to make people forget the disappointment of the legislative elections?

It is possible, even if we must be careful with the word disappointment since the RN now has 126 RN deputies instead of 88… and even 142 if we add the elected representatives from Ciott. 10 million RN ballots were slipped into the ballot boxes. But it is true, Jordan Bardella who saw himself at Matignon with an absolute majority, will not be there. No more than the party obtained any positions in the Assembly.

This attempt to recover the Games also tries to make people forget that the leading party in France had imagined a fiasco for these Games. “An Olympics out of touch”, “without an audience”, said MP Laurent Jacobelli. Surprised by the fervour, they initially kept a low profile, including at the opening ceremony that so shocked Marion Maréchal. Basic rule at the National Rally: we do not go against the rest of the country. Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella have since been content to congratulate the medal winners. But it is urgent to find a “story” for the start of the school year, which promises to be difficult with the opening of the trial of European parliamentary assistants at the end of September 2024 for 27 elected officials and executives including the Le Pens, father and daughter.