France 'won't rule out' using army to reinforce security at Paris Olympics

French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said he could not exclude bringing in the army to ensure security at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

A woman passes by the Olympic rings at the City Hall in Paris, Monday, July 25, 2022. AP - Lewis Joly

Questioned in the Senate Tuesday evening, Darmanin – who is the head of police – spoke of the problems organisers were experiencing in recruiting the 22,000 private agents needed to secure the Games.

He also said there were issues in finding accommodation for both public and private security forces, adding that the situation would become clearer in the coming months.

"If, at the end of the day, there are a number of people missing we will look at what we can do – but we believe that a large country like France is capable of responding to this issue of private security," Darmanin said.

Recuitment headache

The government would know more next month at the earliest, he said, when the Paris 2024 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (COJOP 2024) sorted out which security applicants met the recruitment criteria.

So far between 11,000 and 12,000 agents were suitable.

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A lot will depend of technological provisions, such as the possibility of using body scanners, Darmanin said. 

“We will also have to accommodate 35,000 to 40,000 police officers and gendarmes in Paris.”

Security protocol 

France's top audit body, the Court of Auditors, recently said the COJOP2024 would need to pay the French state if the army were to be mobilised. 

The distribution of public and private security police forces has been the subject of a security protocol signed between the French state and COJOP2024, a document that is currently being updated. 

An annex is planned for the specific question of the opening ceremony on the Seine.

In addition to the Covid crisis and poor working conditions and wages, a five-year residency requirement imposed on security agents has further dried up the pool of applicants.