Security for the Olympic Games remains a top priority for the French authorities. Last Sunday, the French Minister for Security, Gérald Darmanin, was quoted by Le Journal du Dimanche on Sunday 10 March as saying: "Security personnel are being screened and 250 people have already been excluded." 

Paris will be one of the epicentres of the world this summer. It will host a number of international events. As well as the Olympics, there is the Tour de France and the European football championships in neighbouring Germany. 

All this means that France will be in the spotlight. As a result, Darmanin added, private security guards will be deployed alongside public guards, who will have personal access badges. They will all be subject to prior checks. 

These will be carried out by the National Service for Administrative Security (SNEAS). Studies, analyses and screenings will be carried out on one million people, of which "89,000 have already been carried out. If the screenings are not carried out, there will be no access card," the minister insisted, as reported by Le Journal du Dimanche.

Another tactic of the exhaustive security operation is the tracking and daily surveillance of individuals. "20,000 people are under surveillance by the secret services. Not all of them are in France," he explained. 

Darmanin highlighted the potential threats. One is "radical Islam". The other is extreme right-wing groups with "accelerationists who want to speed up the race war" and the extreme left. He also pointed to the surveillance of "Russia in the first place".

He did not forget to mention Paris City Hall in his remarks: "There will be no safer place in the world than the Olympic Games". He also noted that the cyber threat "continues to grow and it will be the attack of tomorrow".

Cyber security, drone attacks, terrorist groups, individuals... There are many important points that the authorities are focusing on, as the scenario is very tense. As far as security is concerned, Darmanin himself admitted that it will be a "terrible year" in France.

The importance of screening personnel is vital, as there is a possibility that some of those being monitored could slip through this thorough check, and those who wish to attack could take advantage of those already on French soil.

One of the main focuses of effort and attention remains the Opening Ceremony on the Seine. To reduce the risk of security threats, the number of people who can attend the event has been steadily reduced. 

For the first time in Olympic history, the ceremony will be held outside a stadium, in an open-air venue, on the banks of the Seine, with the risk of having to control the banks of the river for almost six kilometres, where up to 300,000 spectators could gather, compared to the 500,000 initially estimated before the security operation was put in place.