More than 12,000 police officers and 1,600 soldiers will be mobilised in Paris over the weekend as huge crowds gather to watch the France-Croatia World Cup final following the traditional Bastille Day military parade and celebrations, reports The Guardian.
With France still on alert over the threat of terrorist attacks, security forces across the country are braced for a weekend of street gatherings, beginning with Saturday’s national holiday commemorating the storming of the Bastille on July 14th 1789, a turning point in the French Revolution.
For the World Cup final, up to 90,000 supporters are expected to gather in a fan zone under the Eiffel Tower. If France wins, more than a million people are expected to flock to Paris’s most famous avenue, the Champs-Élysées.
The Paris police chief, Michel Delpuech, warned that “a real terrorist threat” existed for such large public gatherings in France. Cars will be banned from a large area of central Paris and underground car parks will be cleared, in part due to the risk of vehicles being used in terrorist attacks.
Saturday will mark the two-year anniversary of the Nice truck attack, when a man killed 86 people and injured 450 by driving a lorry into crowds watching Bastille Day fireworks along the seafront in the French Riviera city.
Police are also focusing on preventing drunk football fans driving into the area around the Champs-Élysées, endangering the crowd.
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered to celebrate France’s semi-final result on the Champs-Élysées this week. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, a dozen people threw projectiles at police who responded with teargas. In central Nice, as crowds watched the semi-final outside bars, a random panicked movement by a confused crowd caused several injuries.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, will fly to Moscow to watch the final on Sunday, where he will also meet with the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, to discuss issues including Ukraine. The pro-European Macron said it was “very good news” to have a European final.
France is known for placing more political emphasis on football fixtures than its neighbours.