襲撃事件もセーヌ川開催変更せず　パリ五輪開会式で仏政府

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】フランス政府は、今月初めに首都パリ中心部で襲撃事件が発生し、死傷者が出たものの、２０２４年パリ五輪の開会式を同市内のセーヌ川で行う計画を変更しない方針を示している。（写真はパリを流れるセーヌ川に懸かる虹）
　開会式は、セーヌ川で選手団を乗せた船が航行する形で行われる予定だが、治安当局から、攻撃の標的になりやすいとの懸念が出ていると伝えられている。こうした見方について、スポーツ相のアメリー・ウデアカステラ氏は地元ラジオに対し、計画通りに開会式を行う方針は変わらないとの認識を示した。
　同氏は「プランＢは存在せず、プランＡに幾つかの選択肢がある」と述べた。その上で「テロリストの脅威、特にイスラム過激派の脅威は存在する」と認めつつも、「それは今に始まったことではなく、フランスや五輪に特有のものでもない」と強調した。
　セーヌ川での開会式は、五輪の歴史に残るような印象的なショーにしたいとして、エマニュエル・マクロン大統領が提唱した。メインスタジアムの外で開会式が行われるのは五輪史上初めてとなる。
　政府は当初、１０万枚の有料チケットに加えて５０万枚の無料チケットを配布する計画だったが、無料分の枚数については最終的に確定していない。
　ウデアカステラ氏は、開会式の場所変更が議題になっているかとの質問に、「そうした可能性は話し合われていない」としながらも、観覧者数は変更される可能性があり、来春に決定される予定だと述べた。
　複数の関係筋は最近、ＡＦＰに対し、無料分の開会式観覧者数は３０万人未満になるとの見通しを示している。
　パリ警視庁のローラン・ヌニェス警視総監は仏紙パリジャンに対し、五輪開催中には大規模な交通規制を敷く考えを示し、開催場所付近の住民は警察の検問を通過するためのＱＲコードを申請する必要があると語った。
　ヌニェス氏は、ホテルに行く宿泊者や地元住民、大会チケット所持者など具体的な理由がある人のみ検問所の通行を許可すると述べた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/12/15-20:09）

The French government is insisting it will keep a plan to hold the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony on the River Seine even after a deadly attack in the French capital at the weekend amplified existing security concerns.
Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera told French radio that the plan could still be adapted within the idea of the river flotilla, as media reports indicated grave concern within the security forces that the ceremony could be vulnerable to attack.
A man known to the authorities as a radical Islamist with mental troubles on Saturday stabbed to death a German tourist close to the Eiffel Tower by the River Seine in what prosecutors are investigating as a suspected act of terror.
There is no plan B, we have a plan A within which we have several alternatives, the minister told France Inter radio.
She said the terrorist threat and in particular the Islamist threat exists but added it is not new and it is neither specific to France nor specific to the Games.
The plan is for a flotilla of boats to proceed along the Seine from Austerlitz bridge in the east of Paris to Iena bridge in the west carrying athletes, delegations and officials.
The culmination of the ceremony would then take place in front of the famed Trocadero Gardens across the river from the Eiffel Tower.
- 'Spectator capacity unclear' -
The idea has been championed by President Emmanuel Macron, who wants a unique spectacle that will leave a lasting imprint in the history of the Games.
It would be the first time in Olympics history that the opening ceremony takes place outside the main athletics stadium.
But Oudea-Castera added that there were a certain number of adjustment variables, notably the number of spectators who can attend, which will be decided in the spring and can be modulated.
Also subject to adjustment could be the number of events which will be authorised around the area and in Paris on the sidelines of the ceremony and the management of security perimeters.
Authorities initially planned to offer 500,000 free tickets for the ceremony as well as 100,000 paid tickets closest to the action, creating a gargantuan event with a total of 600,000 ticket holders and one of the largest spectator events in human history.
Even if the figure of paying spectators is not likely to change, that of the free spectators has yet to be finalised.
Several sources close to the negotiations recently told AFP that the latest estimate was for less than 300,000 spectators to be allowed in for free.
- 'Satisfactory manner' -
But asked whether any relocation of the ceremony was being considered, Oudea-Castera emphasised: this is not the hypothesis on which we are working.
The attacker chose the Eiffel Tower area more for its symbolic side than as an Olympic site, Emmanuel Gregoire, Paris's deputy mayor, told France Info radio.
Recalling that the Rugby World Cup had been hosted this autumn in Paris and elsewhere in France without any incident, he said that it is not the Olympics... that must be called into question, but the way in which we anticipate the risks in treating these individuals.
I am sure that we will be able to prepare for these Olympics in a very satisfactory manner, he added.
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez had last week already told the Le Parisien newspaper of tough security perimeters planned for the Games, with residents living near Olympic venues needing to apply for a QR code allowing them to pass police barriers.
Special rules will apply during the opening ceremony on July 26, when high-security, or red, perimeters will be very large, Nunez said.
The only people getting through will be people with a valid reason, in other words people going to their hotel, or their home, or people with a ticket for the ceremony, he said.