5 months ago
26
Olympic flame arrives in France
A plan to attack soccer events during the Paris Olympics was foiled by security authorities in France, officials said.
Gerald Darmanin, the interior minister in France, said in a statement that an 18-year-old man from Chechnya was arrested on May 22 on suspicious of being behind a plan to attack soccer events planned in the southeastern city of Saint-Etienne, about 260 miles south of Paris.
According to the initial investigation, the man was preparing an attack targeting the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in the city of Saint-Etienne which will host several soccer matches during the Summer Games.
The planned attack was to target spectators and police forces, the statement said. The suspect wanted to attack the Olympic events "to die and become a martyr," the statement also said.
Police officers patrol the Trocadero plaza near the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Michel Euler / AP
The Paris Olympics will run from July 26-Aug. 11. Soccer matches will be played in cities across France before the final in Paris' Stade de France.
France is on its highest alert level for attacks ahead of the games as 10 million visitors and some 10,000 athletes are expected to arrive in the country.
Many concerns are focused on the opening ceremony on July 26, which will take place on a 4-mile stretch of the Seine River. It will be the first time a summer Olympics begins outside an athletics stadium.
More than 45,000 officers are set to be on duty and large swathes of the area will be closed to anyone who does not hold a ticket or is a resident, AFP reported.
