Safe with sparse streets: Paris feels the Olympic effect

Located in the heart of Paris, only a block away from the famous Seine River in the 6th arrondissement (Sixth District), the intersecting streets are usually inundated by a flood of the city’s usual summertime tourists. It's a scene familiar to anyone who has been there during its busy season: hordes of tour groups block the sidewalk, and children and their undoubtedly exhausted parents wander through the streets while retirees snap photos of every cobblestone building. 

However, if you visited the neighborhood on July 26, the day after the Olympic opening ceremony, you might not realize that the city was hosting the world's largest international sporting event. 

This is Paris's third time hosting the Summer Olympics, having last done so in 1924. The international selection committee first received the French National Olympic Committee's bid for 2024 in 2015 before declaring it the winner two years later. 

Some 15 million visitors were expected to visit the greater Paris region during this year’s Olympics, according to the Paris Tourism Board. 

The city’s municipal and French national governments were willing to spare any expense to guarantee a secure, well-organized, and ultimately successful event.  

This year’s Games, nonetheless, take place against the backdrop of a world seemingly in crisis. War rages on in Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine. At the same time, the Middle East itself looks poised to erupt into a full-fledged regional war as tensions between Israel and Iran and its proxies continue to escalate. Given Paris’ history as a target for terrorism—including recent high-profile attacks by ISIS-K in Russia and Iran and other threats made against European sporting events earlier this year—the French government’s commitment to security at this year’s games has been extraordinary.  

Attendees and local businesses shared some of the impact France’s robust security presence has had on the experience so far, as well as their thoughts on the Games more broadly. Outside the megalithic La Defense Arena in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre, The Media Line spoke with first-time Olympian and Team USA women’s field hockey player Kelee LePage and her family about their time in Paris. 

LePage praised the games' organizers and spoke highly of her time in the Olympic Village with the other athletes. Her parents, Joseph and Joannie, who also agreed to be quoted for this article, explained that they decided to stay outside of Paris proper near the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium in Colombes because that was where the field hockey matches were being played. They had 16 family members, including some who are elderly, fly in in support.  

Feeling secure in France

When asked about safety concerns, Joannie said they had some concerns but felt strongly that security had “exceeded all of our expectations.”  

"I mean, the world we live in," Joseph said, "we did have some concerns, but these guys have done a great job; you feel secure, you feel safe." 

“I can see them right now. We have military at almost every train station. We have never felt unsafe,” he continued, pointing at the dozens of well-armed police officers and soldiers in the vicinity.  

In many respects, Paris has looked like an occupied city over the last few weeks. According to France’s interior ministry, more than 35,000 uniformed soldiers and law enforcement officers, including national military police, are deployed throughout Paris throughout the entirety of the Games, with a peak of 45,000 on the day of the opening ceremony.  

At one point, 40,000 metal barriers lined the streets, preventing individuals without a QR code from accessing certain areas.  

France’s commitment to such a massive, visible security presence reflects what counterterrorism experts call “spectacular security” or a “security mega ritual.”  

When asked about the scope, scale, and intensity of the security measures implemented in Paris, one attendee from Washington, DC, Jules, said that while she was pretty used to seeing similar levels of precautions back home, the police presence “has given added comfort as there have been a lot of times I have been by myself.”  

“I am not so comfortable seeing so many large guns with fingers on triggers, but it is not the US,” she later joked. 

However, Jules explained that she did not feel nervous coming to the Olympics, as “France is high-risk in general and receives threats on a regular basis, so I feel like they would have this down pat.”  

“Social media tends to hype up a lot of things, too,” she added.  

While other attendees from abroad expressed a similar lack of concern as Jules, two women from southern France revealed that they were tentatively worried about the poor organization as well as the general “atmosphere” surrounding potential security risks, but they have since been pleasantly surprised. 

The Paris Tourism Board did not respond to a request for comment regarding how safety concerns impacted attendance.  

However, despite seeming to exceed attendees' expectations, the extremely invasive and all-encompassing nature of hosting an event like the Summer Olympics has negatively affected some Paris residents and businesses.  

Despite maintaining that the city will meet visitor expectations, the city's tourism board reported that hotel occupancy was down 60% in July and 10% overall compared to this time in 2023. 

Tourist activity has also been highly concentrated in areas of the city near sporting venues, according to the board’s data, leaving some businesses, which often rely on Paris’ usual summer surge in visitors, in a financially difficult position.  

Many Parisians have also fled the city out of fear of the potential chaos caused by the Games, effectively removing regular customers from these shops and restaurants. Some businesses in high-risk security areas were even forced to close temporarily. 

The International Center for Counter Terrorism released an analysis on July 27 discussing how "hosting the Olympics enables authorities to introduce extraordinary security measures that would be more difficult to justify in other circumstances." For example, Reuters reported last month that the French government was taking advantage of broad powers granted by a 2017 anti-terrorism law, commonly referred to as MICAS, to place surveillance measures and movement restrictions on at least 155 individuals, many of whom have no criminal record or suspected ties to terrorism.  

Security restrictions also forced Marina, a bookseller running one of Paris's famous pop-up shops along the Seine in the city's Marais district, to close temporarily, even if only technically for no more than a couple of days. Marina clarified that, given her stand's status as a "cultural entity," she would not even receive compensation for the lost revenue, unlike other shops negatively impacted by the security closures. 

The Bouquinistes of Paris are considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

The city even planned initially to physically remove the permanent lock boxes along the river where she and Paris’ other Bouquinistes store their products, according to Marina. Still, they were able to push back against the plan and have it changed.  

Marina confirmed that sales were way down from previous years; however, she argued that the decline was mainly due to the difference in the kinds of people visiting Paris right now, more so than the security changes. 

“These are people interested in sports, not books.”  

As this year’s Games begin to wind down, with the closing ceremony slated for August 11, the city will theoretically return to business as usual. 

Paris and France, more broadly, managed the event with only minor incidents. Both Olympic participants and athletes have praised the French government's efforts thus far in terms of security and organization. 

However, as the city exits its traditional busy season in the coming months, France, reeling from a chaotic election that embodied the country’s deep political divides, will once again be forced to face a myriad of temporarily tabled, unresolved societal challenges, both at home and abroad.   

Historically, many of the city’s residents vacation during the month of August, so it is not uncommon to see many local shops and businesses closed throughout the month as tourism slows while families from across the world prepare their children to return to school. 

But, as the barricades come down and city residents return to occupy their own streets once again, it remains unclear what the long-term impact and legacy of these Games will be as the city sobers from its time in the international limelight.