Plan to attack soccer events during Paris Olympics foiled, French authorities say
A plan to attack soccer events during the Paris Olympics was foiled by security authorities in France, officials said.
Gerald Darmanin, the interior minister in France, said in a statement that an 18-year-old man from Chechnya was arrested on May 22 on suspicion of being behind a plan to attack soccer events planned in the southeastern city of Saint-Etienne, about 260 miles south of Paris.
French authorities raised preliminary terrorism charges against the man, who they accuse of planning a "violent action" on behalf of the Islamic State group's jihadist ideology, the national counterterrorism prosecutor's office said in a statement later on Friday. The man is being held in custody pending further investigation.
According to the initial investigation, the man was preparing an attack targeting the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in the city of Saint-Etienne which will host several soccer matches during the Summer Games.
The planned attack was to target spectators and police forces, the statement said. The suspect wanted to attack the Olympic events "to die and become a martyr," the statement also said.
Darmanin, the interior minister, did not cite a specific security threat against the soccer event, but has said there are multiple potential threats, including those from Islamic extremist groups, violent environmental activists, far-right groups and cyberattacks from Russia or other adversaries.
The Paris Olympics organizing committee said it was made aware of the arrest and praised intelligence and security services. ''Security is the highest priority of Paris 2024. We are working daily in close coordination with the Interior Ministry and all stakeholders — and will continue to be fully mobilized,'' it said in a statement.
The Paris Olympics will run from July 26-Aug. 11. Soccer matches will be played in cities across France before the final in Paris' Stade de France.
France is on its highest alert level for attacks ahead of the games as 10 million visitors and some 10,000 athletes are expected to arrive in the country.
Many concerns are focused on the opening ceremony on July 26, which will take place on a 4-mile stretch of the Seine River. It will be the first time a summer Olympics begins outside an athletics stadium.
In April, French President Emmanuel Macron said the opening ceremony could be moved instead to the country's national stadium if the security threat is deemed too high.
Macron said France's law enforcement forces will be mobilized at an exceptional level for the security of the open-air event, "but if we think there are risks, depending on our analysis of the context, we have fallback scenarios."
Organizers had originally planned a grandiose opening ceremony for as many as 600,000 people, most watching free of charge from riverbanks. But security and logistical concerns have led the government to progressively scale back its ambitions. Earlier this year, the overall number of spectators was reduced to around 300,000.
The French government also decided that tourists won't be given free access to watch the opening ceremony because of security concerns. Free access will be invitation-only instead.