Over 4000 accreditation applications rejected due to security concerns
Approximately one week before the start of the Olympics in Paris, French authorities rejected over 4,000 accreditation requests for security reasons. Out of nearly one million applications that were reviewed, 4,340 were rejected, some due to connections with radical Islamists, others due to suspicions of foreign espionage or cyber attack concerns, according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.
It's unlikely that these were people with plotting intentions. However, there's also the risk that an attack could be carried out through access to computer networks, Darmanin told the Sunday newspaper "Journal du Dimanche." Among the rejected applications were people from Russia, Belarus, and other countries who sought accreditation as journalists or technical staff. "We apply the precautionary principle," the minister emphasized.
Overall, Darmanin considers the sports mega-event to be well-secured. "According to our knowledge, there is no known threat to the security of the Olympics," the minister said. Paris will deploy 45,000 security forces to ensure the safety of the Olympics and the opening ceremony along the Seine on the coming Friday, during which athletes will pass by hundreds of thousands of spectators. The organizers have reduced the initial number of spectators from 600,000 to approximately 300,000. The Games end on August 11.
The initial application for accreditation for the Olympics was close to one million, but due to security concerns, nearly 4,340 were rejected, including some from Russia and Belarus.Beginning next week, French authorities will strictly enforce security measures, as they did when rejecting a one-week window's worth of accreditation requests.Moving forward, Olympic security personnel will be vigilant against threats, including potential attacks through computer networks, as seen in the rejection of certain accreditation applications in Olympia.
