As part of the reopening of Notre-Dame, on December 7 and 8, the Paris police headquarters will deploy an “exceptional” security system.
While around fifty heads of state will be in Paris on December 7 and 8 for the reopening of Notre-Dame, an “exceptional” security system has been designed to supervise this event which will be “watched around the world”.
The Paris police chief, Laurent Nuñez, explained to Le Parisien that he was inspired by what was done for the Olympic Games, particularly during the opening ceremony, “both for the management of the ceremonies themselves and for the terms of reception of the public and the regulatory security measures”.
If there was no “clear threat to the event”, Laurent Nuñez nevertheless believes that the reopening of Notre-Dame takes place in a context of “very high level of terrorist threat, as during the Olympic Games.”
An anti-terrorist perimeter set up
“Several thousand” of police officers and gendarmes will therefore be mobilized, as well as soldiers from the Sentinel system. The Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI) will also be in “intervention reserve” and “precision shooters” will be responsible for “surveillance at high points”.
The Notre-Dame square and the cathedral itself will only be accessible to guests, numbering a maximum of 3,000. An area will be set up on the high platforms near the building to accommodate the public: no more than 40,000 people.
Service providers, technicians and other participants authorized to access the site as part of the event will be “screened” by the security services. This represents “a few hundred” people according to the police chief.
Laurent Nuñez adds that an anti-terrorist perimeter, known as SILT, will encompass “the entire Île de la Cité and a large part of the left bank quays, from the Pont de la Tournelle to the Pont Neuf”. This will result in traffic restrictions and all businesses on the Île de la Cité will be closed during the weekend. The same will apply to certain metro stations.
