Paris Olympics 2024: France targets people posing 'security threat’ ahead of games
French authorities have carried out a number of raids targeting people they said could pose a threat to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, ahead of the opening ceremony next week.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that 870,000 administrative investigations had led to the “removal” of 3,922 people deemed to be a security threat from areas within the vicinity of the events.
Among them were 131 people listed as “S”, denoting state security, including 18 listed for “Islamist radicalisation”, 167 people listed as “ultra-left” and 80 on the "ultra-right".
Darmanin stated that there had been 155 examples of administrative and surveillance measures imposed on individuals, who were to remain within defined parameters and would need to report daily to a police station.
He added that 164 "home visits" were also made in connection with the Olympics.
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Darmanin told reporters on Wednesday that before the games began, “we will be in time to reach one million” probes into individuals.
The opening ceremony takes place on 26 July.
The minister said that the measures targeted “very dangerous people or those who could potentially commit acts”, and would serve to “keep them away” from the games.
Lawyer Vincent Brengarth, who represents a client who is subject to the measures, said that the move “infringe[s] on freedoms”.
“The risk is that people will find themselves eternally in the crosshairs and will be targeted… every time there is a major sporting or cultural event or a G20 summit,” he told French investigative site Mediapart.
'They are destroying my life'
According to Mediapart, several targeted individuals have never been convicted of a crime, or were convicted several years ago.
Among them is Mahmoud, who said he had never been convicted of any crime or been imprisoned, and who has security clearance to work at an airport.
Mahmoud was put under house arrest for three months as part of the measures, and has had his work as an airport subcontractor suspended.
“They are destroying my life. I’m going to lose everything,” he told Mediapart.
“It’s surreal. I am stunned, unable to understand what is happening to me. I no longer sleep at night. I spend my days thinking. My doctor put me on antidepressants.”
UK-based NGO Cage reported in June that over 5,100 Muslims were closely monitored in France ahead of the Olympics, with several Muslims stating that they had been subjected to “violent raids”.
“Police use extreme violence to terrorise the victims of these raids, through deliberate destruction of doors, furniture and belongings in addition to physical brutality,” said Rayan Freschi, a researcher for Cage.
“The state used similar tactics between November 2015 and February 2016, a period during which thousands of Muslim families were violently raided as a form of collective punishment for the ISIS-inspired attacks in France that year.
“These tactics seek to discipline and silence Muslims by spreading paralysing fear amongst an entire community,” Freschi added.
Separately, French authorities have accelerated the destruction of camps used mostly by refugees and migrants near the French capital, ahead of the Olympics.
According to sources cited by AFP, over 500 people were ejected from camps in the capital.
“They really completed the great social cleansing just before the start of the Olympics,” Paul Alauzy, of Medecins du Monde, told AFP.
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