by Mick the Ram

With the Paris Olympic Games less than two months away and France on its highest threat alert level, authorities have arrested an individual accused of plotting a terror attack on one of the stadiums selected to host the football tournament.

Preliminary terrorism charges have been brought to an 18-year-old man from Chechnya who is suspected of planning “violent action” against spectators and members of the police force, who would be in attendance at one of the games scheduled to be played at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium, in the southern city of Saint-Etienne.

The unidentified teenager is understood to have already carried out reconnaissance on the venue in question. He is believed to have been acting on behalf of the Islamic State group’s jihadist ideology and will be held in custody, pending further investigation.

The 2024 Olympic Games are due to take place across France between July 26 and August 11.

Minister full of praise for security services

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin praised security services, stating that the arrest allowed them to “demonstrate their full mobilisation and their effectiveness in the fight against terrorism and the protection of our country.”

He then confirmed that although this was the first foiled attack against the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, it represented the 50th attack foiled by the intelligence services since 2017.

Multiple threats to be considered

The minister went on to highlight that the country faced multiple potential threats, including those from Islamic extremist groups, violent environmental activists, far-right groups and cyberattacks from Russia or other adversaries.

It comes just weeks after a 16-year-old boy was arrested by anti-terrorism police in the country, after allegedly noting on social media that he wanted to “die a martyr” at the Games.

Matches before opening ceremony

Millions of visitors are expected to attend the various events and the football will draw massive attendances. The Geoffroy-Guichard stadium, home ground for Ligue 1 outfit, St Etienne, is in one of the seven cities selected to host matches, alongside, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Nice, and Paris.

The stadium has a capacity of 42,000 and will see two early group fixtures on the 24th and 25th July, which is actually before the Olympic Opening Ceremony, which takes place 26 July.

Six fixtures scheduled for “targetted” stadium

These first two clashes involve the teams of Argentina and Morocco in the men’s competition, and Canada and New Zealand in the women’s. Then on the 27th and 28th are two further matches which may have been targetted.

The first features the men of Ukraine and Morocco, with the Ukrainian connection possibly attracting the wrong sort of attention. However, it might be the second, an evening game involving the women of host nation France and Canada, which could well have been the focus or the terror plot.

There will also be two further group ties played in the stadium on 30 July – between the men’s teams from USA and Germany – and then 24 hours later, between the German women’s side and Zambia. 

Closely co-ordinated security measures

The Paris Olympics organising committee said it was made aware of the arrest and also praised intelligence and security services for intercepting the threat. “Security is the highest priority of Paris 2024, for which we are working daily in close co-ordination with the interior ministry and all stakeholders and will continue to be fully mobilised.”