The Olympics are scheduled to take place from July 26 to August 11, followed by the Paralympics from August 28 to September 8.
Around 800 people who “did not have good intentions” were excluded from the Paris Olympics for security reasons, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Sunday.
The list includes 15 considered to pose the most serious threat to national security.
“The French must know that we absolutely control everyone who approaches the Olympic Games, so there are the volunteers, the torchbearers, the people who will welcome you,” Darmanin told the LCI channel.
“There are a million checks to do; we have already carried out 180,000 checks. We excluded 800 people, including 15 from the S Files (the file of the most serious threats).”
“This means that there are people who wanted to sign up to carry the flame, to volunteer at the Olympic Games and who clearly did not have good intentions.”
Darmanin specified that among those excluded were “radical Islamists” and “radical environmentalists who want to demonstrate”.
French security forces are screening up to a million people ahead of the Olympics, including athletes and people living near key infrastructure, according to the Interior Ministry.
Before departure on July 26, the 10,500 athletes selected for the Olympics and 4,400 for the Paralympics will be subject to background checks, as will their coaches and medical staff, as well as 26,000 accredited journalists.
The Olympics are scheduled to take place from July 26 to August 11, followed by the Paralympics from August 28 to September 8.
France was placed on high alert for terrorist attacks in October after a suspected Islamist burst into a school in the north of the country and stabbed a teacher to death.
The country has been constantly targeted by Islamic extremists over the past decade, particularly the Islamic State group, while Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza is seen as exacerbating domestic tensions.
