• 4 months ago
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Paris has been lit up with the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. But not everyone who hoped to be there will make it, after the co-ordinated arson attacks which plunged the country's rail network into disarray.

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Transcript
00:00Well, there are always going to be heightened tensions around the
00:03Games. Mass international events like this always attract protests of
00:06some form or other and there has been political upheaval recently in
00:10France because of the elections. And then, of course, the attacks in
00:14Paris and Nice mean there has been really heightened security here.
00:17But, nevertheless, those arson attacks this morning were a real
00:20shock and there is a palpable sense of relief that they led only to
00:23inconvenience and not injury. Now, sabotaging national infrastructure
00:27is a serious crime. This appears to have been a co-ordinated attack
00:32by a group of people who knew the network well. There haven't been
00:36any arrests announced yet and no motive mooted either. No-one knows
00:40yet who has done this and the Prime Minister has told everyone to
00:43stop speculating. But it did lead to hundreds of trains being
00:47cancelled this morning. Many more being delayed as well. The lines
00:52are now up. 60-80% of trains are running over the weekend. Eurostar
00:57cancelled a quarter of its services too and the Prime Minister had to
01:01last-minute hop on a plane to get here. Hundreds of leaders are pouring
01:04in from all over the world in what has become a huge operation.
01:11Resignation, exasperation and relief too this morning that a series of
01:15arson attacks on French rails overnight appeared to have targeted
01:19only its timetables, unleashing chaos on 800,000 passengers and
01:24marring the opening of one of the most tightly secured Olympics in
01:28history. French people are already very apprehensive about the Olympic
01:34Games because there were a lot of problems with the organisation and
01:38with this starting as well, it's not the best. This isn't right. The
01:45Olympic Games ought to be a celebration and with all of this,
01:48there are a lot of problems and I find it badly managed. It was in the
01:53early hours of this morning that saboteurs launched what France's
01:56state-owned rail company called a massive attack aimed at paralysing
02:00its fated high-speed network. Explosive devices were used to set fire
02:05to signal boxes in these three places along the Atlantic, northern and
02:10eastern high-speed lines, major arteries into Paris that link it to
02:14cities like Lille, Bordeaux and Strasbourg. But major disruption was
02:18avoided on the main line south to Marseille after an attempt to set
02:21fire to an electrical installation was foiled. What we know, what we
02:29can see is that this operation has been prepared and coordinated. Key
02:33points have been targeted which show a certain knowledge of the network
02:37in order to know where to hit. I can't tell you more about the
02:40perpetrators and their motivations. France's state-owned railway
02:46operator urged passengers to postpone their journeys. This not just
02:49the opening day of the Olympics but a popular day for French people to
02:53go on holiday. France is a country scarred by the deadly attacks of
02:582015 in Paris and 2016 in Nice. Nerves around the security risk that
03:04comes with such a large-scale event are ripped in the many thousands of
03:07officers and soldiers deployed to the capital. But today, words of
03:11reassurance from the president of the Games. No, I don't have concern.
03:15We have full confidence in the French authorities. All the measures
03:21are being taken and the French authorities are assisted by 180
03:31other intelligence services around the world. By lunchtime, the torch
03:38was being held aloft by the rapper Snoop Dogg as he made his way
03:41around the Stade de France. The Games were officially declared open
03:50as 7,000 athletes meandered down the Seine on barges with 300,000
03:55spectators expected to be watching from its banks. The first ever
03:58opening outside of a stadium. The message from Paris tonight, the show
04:03goes on even if it has been an absolute nightmare getting there. The
04:09ceremony started just over half an hour ago. For the first time ever,
04:13not in a stadium but along the Seine and ending up at the Eiffel Tower.
04:17Behind me, Lady Gaga has just been performing. There are rumours that
04:20she will do a duet with Celine Dion. There are rumours and
04:23speculation about who the last torchbearer might be. Will it be the
04:26footballer Zinedine Zidane? We don't know. What is clear is that the
04:29logistical drama of this morning doesn't seem to have dampened the
04:32mood nor the rain. We have seen thousands of people streaming up to
04:36watch and no doubt millions more will be watching at home as well.
04:39Thanks, Amelia. A short time ago I spoke to the French MP,
04:43Eleanor Caruar, who is from President Macron's centrist
04:46renaissance party. I began by asking her what she made of all the chaos.
04:51It is indeed a very chaotic situation. We are very concerned
04:57about it. Although we have heard in recent hours that the situation is
05:02going back to normal, we are very concerned that this was potentially
05:06a sabotage action. One thing seems to be clear is that this was
05:11intentional. This is why we are all very concerned and looking forward
05:15to having more information, which we will certainly have in the next
05:20hours or so. It has shown how vulnerable a large event is, even
05:27with all the security measures that you could imagine in place.
05:31Yes, and this is the case anywhere in the world at pretty much any time.
05:36But it is true that there is a very, very large security system that
05:42has been deployed in Paris. We have all our forces, policemen,
05:47gendarmerie and also military that are deployed to secure the entire
05:52zone. And this TGV action in the railroad system was not, I don't
05:58think, targeted at the Olympics per se, but it will, of course, have
06:03an impact. Well, I mean, if it wasn't targeted at the Olympics, what
06:06do you think it was targeted at? I mean, was it targeted at the
06:09government? It is also a possibility. I think right now in France we
06:14have an unseen situation with some instability and the need to create
06:20a new government. And some factions of the French population are a bit
06:25extreme. This could be a terrorist attack or it could be an internal
06:28attack. It really is too early to say. Do you think this could be just a
06:33political act by a political group? We have seen in our history, in our, I
06:37would say, ancient history in the 40s, actions like this in the railroad
06:43system that have been political actions. But again, we will know more
06:48in a few hours. Of course. And what would be your message to people who
06:51are still thinking of coming to France to enjoy the Games and are now
06:56thinking twice and wondering whether they are going to be targeted
06:59again? I would tell them to come, to come and enjoy the Games and to be
07:04certain that their security is our number one preoccupation right now.
07:08Eleanor Caraw, thank you very much indeed. Thank you. Well, in Belgium,
07:13three Chechens have been charged with planning a terrorist attack,
07:16though prosecutors said there was no sign they had any specific target
07:20in mind. France's interior minister has thanked Belgium but also
07:24suggested that he was more worried about tonight's weather than the
07:27security situation. Jonathan Rugman takes a look now at how Paris is
07:31trying to keep the Olympics safe. In 2015, the year Paris bid for the
07:38Games, the city was the victim of major terrorist attacks. Over 140
07:43people were killed by Islamist gunmen and suicide bombers. And the
07:47city's mayor wants today's opening ceremony to serve as a symbol of its
07:52recovery. French intelligence say they have seen no clear threat so
07:56far. France wants to project its soft power around the world, but it is
08:01vulnerable too, with a so-called lone wolf attacker often the hardest to
08:06spot. Last December, a man who said he was upset about Gaza killed a
08:11German tourist with a knife and a hammer near the Eiffel Tower. While
08:15earlier this week, a Russian man was charged with trying to destabilise
08:20the Olympics on behalf of a foreign power. On top of 45,000 police,
08:26that's ten times the usual number, there are also 10,000 soldiers on
08:31duty today. They're concentrated on the parade route down the River
08:35Seine. It's just over three and a half miles long and surrounded by
08:40metal barricades and checkpoints. Around 100 invited heads of
08:45government will be watching from near the Eiffel Tower. As of tonight,
08:49over 90 miles of airspace around Paris has been closed. The city's
08:54four airports have stopped flights as well. Soldiers on helicopters have
09:00been equipped with guns which can jam drones or shoot them down with
09:04lasers. While on the ground, individual QR codes have been issued to
09:09hundreds of thousands of spectators. There's no entry without the code as
09:13well as proof of identity. Some 5,000 people were turned down for jobs at
09:20the Olympics because of their criminal records or for being flagged as
09:24potential extremists. And police have placed more than 150 suspected
09:29radicals under virtual house arrest. More than 20 metro stations in the
09:34capital were closed as of this morning and some 500 buildings inside the
09:40secure zone have been searched, as well as the city's sewers and its
09:44famous catacombs. If all goes well, most of the police will leave Paris
09:50tomorrow and no more QR codes or fences from then. So, an enormous
09:56security operation for just a few hours in the global spotlight.
10:01Well, earlier today I spoke to Romain de Calbiac, a security expert in
10:05Paris, and I started by asking him to explain the complexity of the
10:10security assessment for these Olympics.
10:13They are the dimensions which France would face from a security
10:17perspective with or without the Olympics, i.e. petty crime and around
10:23the residual local threat posed by jihadi-inspired actors and, of course,
10:30political activists from all sides. When it comes to the Olympics,
10:33there's of course an additional layer that comes on top of that, which
10:36brings a very specific, which brings a unique dimension into play, which
10:41is the international media focus that the event is going to get and
10:46therefore the also expected benefits that a series of attackers from all
10:52around the world could potentially reap from targeting such an event.
10:56But what was different about the Paris Games is that a lot of the events
11:00are very open air, in the city, very accessible, which is a lovely idea
11:07in terms of accessibility, but it's a security nightmare.
11:12It is indeed, for all the reasons you mentioned. Six kilometres of
11:15river to secure a series of high points, be they corporate premises,
11:20be they residences, to secure as well. Everyone has the Trump scenario in
11:24mind. Of course, when it comes to isolated shooters, there's the issue
11:29posed by drones capable of potentially breaching through air defences.
11:35There's the topic of underwater threat, because as you said, it's not
11:37just a long parade, it's also a naval parade. But that's for the ceremony
11:41itself. But the big problem with the security detail, as it's designed at
11:45the moment, is that it does come with a strong concentration of forces in
11:50Paris and around the location where the ceremony and some of the games
11:56will take place. But it also leaves a bit more exposed other areas, both
12:01within Paris and outside of Paris, to attacks against so-called soft
12:06targets. It doesn't inspire confidence for potential visitors?
12:10No. I mean, I'm playing the devil's advocate here by, of course,
12:14addressing all potential nightmare scenarios. French security forces
12:18have also done that work. They've been preparing for years. There have
12:23been a series of live and large-scale exercises in the past months. So
12:28those cases have been assessed. It is just that, indeed, the event is
12:32unprecedented. So risk zero doesn't exist. It is sure that I would advise
12:39visitors to be on the lookout and be careful. I do believe that the security
12:45perimeters set around the ceremony is quite strong. I would actually
12:49recommend to be a bit more careful for those actually attending the games
12:53from outside.
12:54And how much international cooperation is there on the security front?
12:58It's actually massive. It starts with the intelligence gathering and
13:03intelligence sharing process. French security services have been
13:08partnering with the entire intelligence community from a global perspective,
13:13with information shared on Russian operators, Central France, Azerbaijan,
13:19Azerbaijan, hybrid operations also directed against France. There are
13:24thousands of security personnel detached by participating nations to
13:29France at the moment. For anyone taking the subway in Paris at the
13:33moment, it's actually not a rare thing to see police officers coming
13:37from Brazil or from the Netherlands patrolling with their French
13:41counterparts.
13:42So, I mean, as a security expert, would you advise your family and
13:45friends to go or stay away?
13:47No, I would advise to go. I still believe that, as I said, risk zero
13:51doesn't exist. I actually have friends attending the event as we speak,
13:55and I'm pretty confident that things are going to be OK for them. It is
13:59indeed true that the event is unprecedented, and there is, of course,
14:03some degree of risk associated with it. But I still believe that the event
14:08itself is well secured, and French parties have tried their very best to
14:13prevent, let's say, the worst case scenarios from happening.
14:16Romain Decalburet, thank you very much.
14:18My pleasure.

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