Heavy security as Israel kicks off bid

PARIS, France (AFP) — Around 1,000 French police officers were on duty to provide security at Israel’s football match against Mali in the Paris Olympics, a high-risk occasion which saw fans flying Palestinian and Israel flags.

During the Israeli national anthem, whistles were also heard around the cavernous Parc des Princes where around 25,000 fans were watching the game.

At the same time, some spectators displayed shirts with “Free Palestine” written across their fronts.

Palestinian flags were waved by a handful of spectators which led to angry exchanges between them and Israeli fans.

When pro-Palestinian spectators sported yellow stickers plastered with the words “Gaza: Silence kills,” they were told by stewards to remove them.

The game involving the Israeli team as well as the Ukraine-Iraq match in the southeastern city of Lyon, had been identified by French security forces as high risk.

“All the competitions have a security plan, but it’s true that these two matches, and particularly the match at the Parc des Princes, will have security, an anti-terror perimeter,” French interior minister Gerald Darmanin told BFM television and RMC radio before kick-off.

“Tonight at the Parc des Princes there will be a thousand police officers who will ensure that we are there for the sport.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog was attending the match.

All Israeli athletes at the Paris Games, which start officially on Friday, will have round-the-clock personal security provided by elite French police, both inside the Olympic village and every time they leave the compound in northern Paris.

A French police source told AFP that security forces had been “expecting actions and disturbances around the stadium” on Wednesday and said it was possible that “people shout insults from the stands” or that there is “whistling and flags shown during the hymns, for example.”

Europalestine, a French activist group behind recent protests, told the Guardian newspaper that it was planning a peaceful demonstration inside the stadium to protest the “genocide” in Gaza.