6,000 French Police to Welcome Olympic Torch

AFP/APP

Marseille: Some 6,000 police will be deployed for the arrival of the Olympic flame in France next month, authorities said Friday as they announced bonuses for security forces to avert threatened industrial action. 

The police presence in the southern port of Marseille when the torch arrives from Greece on May 8 will be bigger than for a visit to the city by Pope Francis in September last year. 

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said an elite tactical unit, bomb disposal teams, nautical police and an anti-drone team would be in place when a 19th-century sailing boat, the Belem, enters the port. Organisers expect 150,000 people to be watching.

The extra forces will be in addition to local police and firefighters.

The torch was handed over to French Olympics organisers in Athens on Friday and the Belem will set sail on Saturday. The Paris Olympics start on July 26.

Darmanin said more than 1,000 boats that will complete the journey with the Belem will all be checked.

The minister said there was no “specific threat” to the torch event.

France is on a heightened Olympics security alert.