A meeting at the Ministry of Culture is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, at the initiative of Minister Rima Abdul-Malak, to seek “case by case” solutions so that the biggest festivals can be held in the summer of 2024, despite the organization of the Paris Olympics. The leaders of the twenty biggest festivals, “those who drain the most public and those who need to be secured with law enforcement by their side”, will be around the table, said the minister on RTL, who intends “resume on a case-by-case basis with each prefect” their situation and “Find the point of balance”.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin prompted misunderstanding of the music industry festivals and concerts, evoking at the end of October the need for “cancelled or postponed” cultural or sporting events in the summer of 2024, due to the massive mobilization of law enforcement for the Olympic Games.
“There may be some cancellations”
“There may be some cancellations, if some solutions are not found”specified Rima Abdul-Malak, who wants “find solutions” with the Ministry of the Interior and the Minister of Sports, evoking, for example, discrepancies “a few days” or revisions of “format”. For other festivals, “It’s totally impossible, but it’s up to us to be able to adapt too”, she added. “This is important to be able to project yourself into the summer of 2024 by reconciling culture, the cultural vitality of the summer and the Olympic Games“.
On average “30,000 police and gendarmes per day” during the Games
During a hearing in the Senate on October 25
the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin assured that the security of the Games will be ensured by “on average 30,000 police and gendarmes per day” adding there would be “no holidays” for the staff of the Ministry of the Interior. He then warned that cultural and sporting events would be “cancelled or postponed” during the Games, angering festival patrons.
The remarks of the Minister of the Interior aroused “stupor and incomprehension”, with Jérôme Tréhorel, director of Old Plows Festival
in Brittany, which brought together nearly 300,000 people last summer. “There was no consultation to discuss this joint Olympics and festivals and it is a pithy and brutal announcement, without a time or geographical perimeter”, he had lamented to AFP.