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| French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin. Reuters |
French police will be on high alert for threats along the route of the 2024 Olympic torch relay, the interior minister said on Monday, with torchbearers protected by about 100 officers in a security bubble and anti-drone measures in place.
The Olympic flame will arrive in Marseille from Greece on May 8, with up to 150,000 people expected to attend the ceremony in the southern city's Old Port before the French leg of the relay begins.
Speaking at a press conference, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the "terrorist and protest threat" to the relay was significant, citing "far left environmental activists" or "radical Islamists" as potential sources of such threats.
"The relay of the torch is subject to a lot of media attention and the ministry is giving it a special attention as it could be the target of malicious acts," he said.
"We did a background check on all 11,000 torchbearers and the 1,000 replacements, and it led to 13 being left out of the relay."
