There are no attacks to regret, crime is apparently on the decline, at least in the areas dedicated to the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP), and the courts are functioning well. The results – still provisional – of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in terms of security and justice are undeniably positive. But this must be compared with the immense resources deployed: full staff mobilised, holidays postponed, bonuses and resources distributed without counting. If the reaction is certain in budgetary terms, it will also be certain in terms of the rule of law, since extraordinary provisions have been used massively.
No attack, but at the cost of enormous obstacles.
Apart from the initial failure, which consisted in not having detected the preparation of a concerted sabotage, on the night of 25th to 26th July, targeting the high-speed lines, the JOP took place without any alerts or incidents on the part of the terrorist threat. A result celebrated on Wednesday 11th September in Franceinfo by the national anti-terrorist prosecutor, Olivier Christen. However, fears were high, especially in relation to the so-called endogenous threat and knife attacks, which are particularly difficult to prevent.
In an interview with Sunday newspaper (JDD) of 1Ahem In September, the resigned Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, attributed this positive result to the measures taken in the months and weeks preceding the Games. They ranged from the astonishing figure of 1.2 million administrative investigations carried out against people accredited for the JOP or, outside the Games, to the 559 individual administrative control and surveillance measures (Micas), restrictions on movement, pronounced against people considered potentially dangerous, through 848 home visits, the equivalent of administrative searches. On the occasion of the JOP, according to figures communicated by Place Beauvau in JDD92 expulsions and 20 deprivations of nationality were pronounced (of foreigners convicted of terrorism).
Never since the state of emergency, established after the attacks of 13 November 2015, have so many restrictive measures been taken on freedoms. The use of Micas was particularly massive and indiscriminate. They targeted a large proportion of people who had never been convicted, or even charged or arrested in connection with acts of terrorism. They were all issued at the end of June or beginning of July for a period of three months, thus well beyond the JOP period. They also led to 154 convictions for violations of movement restrictions or the obligation to report.
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