Paris to kick off 2024 Games amid tight security

The Olympics officially kick off on Friday with an extravagant opening ceremony in the heart of Paris, but an attack by vandals targeting France’s high-speed TGV rail network exposed security risks at a time when all eyes are on the country.

The coordinated actions by saboteurs brought major disruption to some of France’s busiest rail lines. Paris 2024 said the Olympics opening ceremony would go ahead as planned.

No one has claimed responsibility.

The attacks took place far from Paris at a time when a massive security operation rolled out in the capital for the opening ceremony, involving some 45,000 police and thousands of soldiers, has sucked in security resources from across France.

The opening parade will feature a procession of barges which will take nearly 7,000 athletes along the River Seine past Paris’s most famous landmarks, while more than 300 000 spectators will watch from the banks.

Since the last Games – the Winter Olympics held in Beijing in 2022 – wars have erupted in Ukraine and Gaza, providing a highly tense international backdrop.

France is at its highest level of security, though officials have repeatedly said there is no specific threat to the opening ceremony or the Games.

Scores of world leaders will be in Paris for the opening ceremony, which will be protected by snipers on rooftops.

The Seine’s riverbed has been swept for bombs, and Paris’ airspace will be closed.

(Production: Lucien Libert, Cecile Mantovani, Imad Creidi, Elena Rodriguez, Kurt Michael Hall)