nearly 15,000 soldiers will be mobilized to secure the Olympic Games

More than 10,000 of them will be deployed in Ile-de-France, the military governor of Paris announced Thursday.

The numbers are yet to be known. Nearly 15,000 soldiers will be mobilized for the Paris Olympic Games in the summer of 2024 from July 26 to August 11, of which 10,000 will be deployed in Ile-de-France, announced Thursday, November 23, the military governor of Paris, General Christophe Abad.

“The armies, at this stage, 250 days before the deadline, are preparing to commit around 15,000 soldiers at the national level, of which nearly 10,000 will be deployed in Ile-de-France”, he said during a press briefing at the Ministry of the Armed Forces. Some 5,000 of them will be housed in tents in the heart of Paris, on the Reuilly lawn, for the duration of the Olympic Games.

Private security in question

These announcements do not take into account a possible failure on the side of private security, a sector of activity whose difficulties make the Organizing Committee (Cojo) and the State fear not being able to bring together enough agents private.

“These numbers respond to the capacity of the armies to satisfy” needs “as expressed to us at this stage”, said Christophe Abad. “This does not mean that in the next 250 days, there will not be other missions, private security problem or not,” he added. For the sole security of competition sites, which is the responsibility of Cojo, between 17,000 and 22,000 security agents are needed.

Bruno Le Ray, director of Olympic security for the organizing committee, assured Thursday morning that 37 private security companies had already been selected, for 138 lots out of the 200 that the Cojo will award. “We are very much on schedule”he said.