Police swarmed an area in Paris after cops found a “suspicious object” at the Porte de Paris train station in Saint-Denis. The area is now on lockdown.
The station is located near the Stade de France stadium, one of the locations hosting the Olympic Games. The station was mainly empty when the threat was discovered as the last Olympic session had ended at 1pm local time – but the Games are scheduled to resume there at around 5.40pm local time. It’s unclear if the stadium will be reopened by then.
While French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that no “tangible” terror threats had been detected during the first week of the games, Paris has been on edge over the potential of a terrorist attack during the Olympics.
However, 180 people have been taken into police custody since July 26 and Darmanin said they included some individuals who “could have” carried out an attack – included last Friday, the day of the Opening Ceremony.
He added: “There wasn’t and as of now we aren’t aware of any tangible threat from (terror) organisations … There is no organised attack being planned that we are aware of.”
Central Paris has been surrounded by a ring of steel ahead of the Olympics, with 40,000 metal barriers closing off the areas where the Games are taking place.
Only people with a QR code, issued to residents, those working inside the cordoned off area and people with hotels or restaurant bookings, are allowed to cross the barriers.
Moreover, France has deployed a massive police force counting around 30,000 police officers and gendarmerie every day.
The heavy police presence in Paris also includes heavily armed officers, with units ranging from military police in combat fatigues with assault rifles slung across their shoulders to aviator sunglasses-wearing local cops with handguns.
The military presence in the street hasn’t quashed the anti-police sentiment felt in some Parisian suburbs, particularly following the killing of teenager Nahel Merzouk last year.
Tensions in the Saint-Denis area, where the Olympic Village has been set up, have reached fever pitch, with one local telling Express.co.uk he and his friends were sick of the “aggressive approach” they believe the police are taking.
The Saint-Denis suburb, which in the 1990s was chosen as the site for France’s modern national stadium, is so notorious for violence that French football legend Thierry Henry warned ahead of the 2022 Champions League Final: “Be careful, the stadium is in Saint-Denis, not in Paris. It’s near Paris but trust me you don’t want to be in Saint-Denis. It’s not the same.”
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