PARIS (AP) – French authorities foiled three plots to attack the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris and other cities that hosted the summer events, national counterterrorism prosecutor Olivier Christen said yesterday.
In all, five people, including a minor, were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the three foiled plots against the Summer Games. The suspects are facing various terrorism-related charges while they remain in pretrial detention, the prosecutor said.
France was on its highest security alert in the months ahead of the Olympics and Paralympics, which wrapped up last week. During preparations for the Games, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin repeatedly warned that security threats, violent environmental activists, far-right groups and cyberattacks or other adversaries.
In May, members of the General Directorate of Internal Security arrested an 18-year-old man from Chechnya on suspicion of being behind a plan to attack Olympic soccer events that were held in the southern city of Saint-Etienne. The planned attack was to target an “establishments around the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium,” the prosecutor said. The suspect is accused of planning “a violent action”.
Threats dominated the foiled plots and 80 per cent of legal proceedings against suspects include the extremist ideology that still influences France’s youth, the prosecutor said.
