Paris 2024 opening ceremony: public authorities are leaning towards around 300,000 spectators with free access

The question of the number of spectators, who will be able to access the high quays of the Seine free of charge to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, on July 26, 2024, should be decided during a defense and security council scheduled for the end of November . The figure currently being discussed within public authorities as the option to be retained is around 300,000 people at most, according to a source familiar with the discussions.

Initially, the project was more ambitious: it consisted of bringing together 100,000 spectators (paying) on ??the low quays and 500,000 on the high quays to attend the river parade of athletes, planned on barges over 6 kilometers, between the François Library -Mitterrand and the Eiffel Tower.

But certain stakeholders, such as the Ile-de-France region and Ile-de-France Mobility, had warned of the risks that such an influx could entail, considering that it would be complicated to absorb, particularly in terms of transport.

In May, the Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, had already mentioned a smaller option, with “roughly a low level of 300,000 to 400,000 free places”.

No plan B, but possible adjustments

International tensions (war in Ukraine, Israel-Gaza war), as well as the attack in Arras, where a teacher was killed, added additional sources of security concerns, while the event in -even was already considered very complicated to secure.

Officially, today, there are no plans to “relocate” the opening ceremony and develop a plan B: “Plan A integrates all the threats,” argued the government and the committee. organization of the Games in recent days.

“Are we paying attention to context? The answer is obviously yes,” Ms. Oudéa-Castréa declared on October 26 on BFM-TV, while explaining that the government is working on “adjustment variables.” “It would be irresponsible not to do so. But we want to keep the principle of this opening ceremony,” she added.

Avoid crowd movements

More than the exact number of spectators who will be able to access the high platforms, the subjects which concern the authorities, and for which they must define answers in the coming weeks, are how to avoid crowd movements and how to position themselves at the right location of filtering and control points.

Regarding the first point, the protocol, signed in May by the State, the City of Paris and Paris 2024, specified that the public with free access will be “channeled and installed in boxes delimited by removable barriers”, with an “occupancy ratio of 3 people per m2” – which roughly corresponded to 400,000 to 500,000 people.

Despite this compartmentalization, it will be necessary to guard against possible flows of spectators along the platforms. Some might be tempted to move to follow the progress of the river parade. The risk would then be to have a more or less strong arrival of people towards the Eiffel Tower and the Trocadéro, the end of the parade, with risks of pushes, of compressions in the public.

Manage exits

As for filtering-control, the challenge for the authorities, beyond the places where they must be installed, is to define how the entrances will be managed and secured, but also, or even above all, the exits.

For entries, the online ticketing-reservation system, which must be set up by the Ministry of the Interior, should make it possible to direct spectators to the areas assigned to them.

Reminders should be made beforehand. This will first involve checking that the people who have reserved these tickets confirm their presence. And, if this is the case, that they will have noted the area where they will have to go, while specifying the metro station to favor, taking into account the security perimeter that will be put in place.

But the other subject, presented as potentially critical, because a possible source of tension, is that of exits from these free zones. The show, in fact, promises to be long (more than three hours) and it is not certain that all the spectators will attend until the end.

The principle must be that any exit will be definitive, we must therefore plan how to manage the possible replacement of those leaving by people, who, without tickets – this remains to be confirmed –, would wait for a place to become available to be able to enter.