Last year, the Bayonne Festival was marred by the death of Patrice Lanies. “The awareness of this tragedy that we have experienced,” relates the mayor of Bayonne, Jean-René Etchegaray, will lead the municipality to pay tribute to him during the 2024 edition. Despite a particular political context, with the Olympic Games adding a difficulty, the personnel usually deployed to protect the Bayonnais and visitors will be preserved.
Security, rescue and transport organization
To secure the city, more than 520 people are mobilized. Police officers, CRS, border agents, gendarmes, sentries… the list is long. Staff have also been raised to ensure railway security. Nearly 380 qualified people are responsible for emergency services. As for prevention, various measures have been put in place. On the addiction side, prevention actions will be deployed on the outskirts of the city of Bayonne and led by the Étoile des Pyrénées association.
In terms of preventing sexist and sexual violence, the Angela system was chosen to assist and support people who find themselves in situations of street harassment and assault. Recognizable by a specific Angela sticker, trained and aware shopkeepers are ready to provide assistance to people in danger.
Jean-René Etchegaray assures that the Bayonne Festival will not be disrupted by the strike planned in the Txik-Txak network during the month of July. Putting “the security of the festivals at risk”, the mayor emphasizes, “there will be no impact on the operation of the services”.
Controls and cameras
Various checks, drugs, drinks, VTC, contraband, will also be conducted throughout the festivities in order to “maintain public order”, according to the words of Fabrice Rosay, sub-prefect of Bayonne. To be both “mobile and reactive”, the mayor, the sub-prefect and the public prosecutor are also counting on the 115 cameras in service in the heart of the city. “There is not the slightest incident that occurs in the city center that is not analyzed and recorded by the cameras”, warns Jean-René Etchegaray. New this year, the video system will be doubled by the presence of a drone which offers, like the cameras, “an intervention capacity at the moment T and a work of exploitation of the video-protection”, recalls the prosecutor, Jérôme Bourrier.
