Olympic Games

Security reasons! 4340 accreditations rejected

"As far as we know, there is no known threat to the security of the Olympic Games," said France's Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ...(Bild: Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The French authorities have rejected more than 4,000 applications for accreditation for the Summer Olympics in Paris for security reasons!

Almost one million accreditation applications were examined and 4,340 were rejected, some because of links to radical Islamists, others because of suspicions of foreign espionage or concerns about cyber attacks. This was announced by France's Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin on Sunday.

"We are applying the precautionary principle"
They were probably not people planning an attack. But in addition to intelligence espionage, there is a risk that a cyber attack could be carried out via access to computer networks, Darmanin told the Sunday newspaper "Journal du Dimanche".

The rejected applications included people from Russia, Belarus and other countries who wanted to be accredited as journalists or technical staff. "We are applying the precautionary principle," emphasized the minister.

Paris will deploy 45,000 security personnel
Darmanin considers the major event to be well secured. "As far as we know, there is no known threat to the security of the Olympic Games," said the minister.

Paris will deploy 45,000 security personnel to ensure the safety of the Games and Friday's opening ceremony along the Seine, where athletes will parade on boats past hundreds of thousands of spectators. The organizers have reduced the original number of visitors from 600,000 to around 300,000. The games end on August 11.