Eight days to secure the opening ceremony

No joke. Less than 100 days before the event, a new corner of the veil has been lifted on the security system planned by the French authorities for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Laurent Nuñez, the Paris police chief, detailed Thursday April 25 the arrangements adopted for an evening which promises to be the most secure of the year. Surprise: the security plan will begin on June 17, more than five weeks before the ceremony, with the first installations of equipment on the high quays of the Seine, including 65 giant screens and 169 sound structures. This phase of work will continue on June 26 on the lower quays of the river. The security perimeters will apply eight days before the opening ceremony, with red zones freely accessible to pedestrians and cyclists, and only to motorists holding an exemption, and gray zones exclusively accessible with a QR code. This gray perimeter will concern all buildings with a view of the Seine, therefore on the parade of delegations, i.e. around 20.000 residents and traders. River traffic will be completely stopped for a week. Another announcement: all metro stations which open into the protection perimeter will be closed. But the lines will work normally. Friday July 26, the day of the opening ceremony, the red perimeter will be extended to the west of Paris due to “ depositions of dignitaries, heads of state and government, athletes ". It will only be possible to access it with an exemption until 13 p.m. Afterwards, access will be prohibited except for emergency vehicles, those of the organization and the cars of dignitaries. Finally, the system provides for around ten crossing points during these eight days to connect the right bank to the left bank of the Seine, including only five in the center of Paris.