Olympics opening ceremony saw no major reported issues, French official says

France’s interior minister praised security forces after no major issues were reported Friday during the opening ceremonyof the Olympics. 

Authorities had deployed a massive security operation in Paris to keep the event safe. The capital’s streets were blocked off, with squadrons of police patrolling and imposing metal-fence security barriers erected like an iron curtain on both sides of the River Seine. Up to 45,000 police and gendarmes as well as 10,000 soldiers have been deployed for Olympic security. 

Here’s a look at what’s happened with security so far:

No major incidents at opening ceremony

“We did it,” French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on the social platform X, praising an “event without incident.”

“After four years of intense work to prepare for the world’s biggest sport event, we have never been prouder of our security forces,” he tweeted.

Paris police tweeted “plan A” with a video of river officers watching the sparkling Eiffel Tower, in a reference to previous comments by French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledging plans could be revisited for security reasons if needed.

All Parisian bridges were closed to both vehicles and pedestrians as a vast anti-terrorism perimeter along the banks of the river sealed off a kilometers-long (miles-long) area to those without tickets for the ceremony.