According to prosecutor, French authorities have foiled three attacks on the Olympic Games in Paris

PARIS– French authorities have foiled three attack plans on the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris and other venues hosting the summer events, the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday.

Olivier Christen said the plans also included plans for attacks on “Israeli institutions or representatives of Israel in Paris” during the Olympic Games from July 26 to August 11. The prosecutor told France Info that “the Israeli team itself was not specifically targeted.” He did not provide further details.

A total of five people, including a minor, were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the three foiled attacks on the Summer Olympics, which took place against the backdrop of the war between Israel and Hamas and the Russian war in Ukraine. The suspects face various terrorism charges while they remain in custody, the prosecutor said.

France has been on high security alert in the months leading up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which ended last week. During preparations for the Games, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin repeatedly warned that security threats could come from Islamist extremist groups, violent environmental activists, far-right groups and cyberattacks from Russia or other adversaries.

In May, agents of the General Directorate for Internal Security arrested an 18-year-old man from Chechnya on suspicion of being behind a plan to attack Olympic football tournaments in the southern Chechen city of Saint-Etienne.

The planned attack was directed against “bars around the Geoffroy Stadium,” said the prosecutor. The suspect is accused of planning “a violent action” in the name of the jihadist ideology of the terrorist militia “Islamic State.”

Jihadist threats dominated the foiled attacks and 80 percent of the cases against suspects were related to the extremist ideology that still influences France’s youth, the prosecutor said. The Islamic State terror group “continues to spread propaganda,” he added.

Preventive measures included increased house searches and arrests before the start of the Olympics, the prosecutor said, adding that police and other security personnel had conducted 936 house searches so far in 2024, compared with 153 last year.