France is prepared to move the 2024 Olympic opening ceremony from the River Seine to another location should the security situation require it, President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday.
Macron said he was against "doomsaying" and changing plans hastily © Mena Today
France is prepared to move the 2024 Olympic opening ceremony from the River Seine to another location should the security situation require it, President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday.
"Given we're professionals, there obviously is a Plan B, Plan C, et cetera," Macron told France 5 television when asked if the security situation - currently marked by heightened alert across Europe over tensions in the Middle East - could thwart plans to hold the ceremony as planned.
Macron said he was against "doomsaying" and changing plans hastily, but added a Plan B could be triggered if "the level of insecurity requires us to revisit the initial scheme" without providing details.
European security officials have warned of a growing risk of attacks by Islamist militants amid the Israel-Hamas war, with the biggest threat likely from "lone wolf" assailants who are hard to track. France raised its security threshold in October, when a man with a knife killed a teacher in a school in northern France.
Earlier this month, the country's sports minister ruled out a change of plans after a man armed with a knife and hammer killed a German tourist and left two people wounded near the Eiffel Tower, saying "this not something we're working with."
Spanish police launched an investigation on Wednesday into Islamophobic and xenophobic chants during Tuesday's friendly against Egypt which also drew sharp criticism from Spain's football officials and the government.
Iran’s men's national soccer team wore black armbands and held schoolbags as their anthem played ahead of a match in Turkey on Friday in what a team official said was a protest over the killing of schoolgirls on the first day of the Iran war.
The Iranian women's national soccer team crossed the Turkish-Iranian border Wednesday, completing a fraught journey home from Australia after five of the six players who had sought asylum subsequently withdrew their claims.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.