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Flags and whistles as Israel opens Olympics campaign / Photo: © AFP
Flags and whistles as Israel opens Olympics campaign
Around 1,000 French police officers were on duty Wednesday to provide security at Israel's football match against Mali at the Paris Olympics, a high-risk occasion which saw fans flying Palestinian and Israel flags.
During the Israeli national anthem, whistles were also heard around the cavernous Parc des Princes where around 25,000 fans were watching the game.
At the same time, some spectators displayed shirts with "Free Palestine" written across their fronts.
Palestinian flags were waved by a handful of spectators which led to angry exchanges between them and Israeli fans.
When pro-Palestinian spectators sported yellow stickers plastered with the words "Gaza: Silence kills", they were told by stewards to remove them.
The game involving the Israeli team as well as the Ukraine-Iraq match in the southeastern city of Lyon, had been identified by French security forces as high risk.
"All the competitions have a security plan, but it's true that these two matches, and particularly the match at the Parc des Princes, will have security, an anti-terror perimeter," French interior minister Gerald Darmanin told BFM television and RMC radio before kick-off.
"Tonight at the Parc des Princes there will be a thousand police officers who will ensure that we are there for the sport," he added.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog was attending the match.
All Israeli athletes at the Paris Games, which start officially on Friday, will have round-the-clock personal security provided by elite French police, both inside the Olympic village and every time they leave the compound in northern Paris.
A French police source told AFP that security forces had been "expecting actions and disturbances around the stadium" on Wednesday and said it was possible that "people shout insults from the stands" or that there is "whistling and flags shown during the hymns, for example".
The game kicked off at 9:00 pm (1900 GMT).
Europalestine, a French activist group behind recent protests, told the Guardian newspaper that it was planning a peaceful demonstration inside the stadium to protest the "genocide" in Gaza.
"We do not take (the threat) lightly, we are on high alert and all athletes have been informed of the situation," said Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer.
"Our duty to protect our athletes, in cooperation with the French authorities, is of the utmost importance," he added.
Darmanin later Wednesday described the match as "particularly sensitive" but added "there is no security problem to our knowledge".
"The Israeli team will be protected by the Republic."
The head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach and French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday rejected a Palestinian demand that Israel be barred from the Paris Games over the war in Gaza.
The Palestine Olympic Committee asked for a ban on Israel in a letter to the IOC, saying the bombings of the besieged Gaza Strip were a breach of the Olympic truce.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Wednesday at least 39,145 people have been killed in more than nine months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The Israeli offensive on Gaza came after Hamas militants launched a shock attack on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
R.Baker--SFF
