Authorities are jittery about the likelihood of the relay being disrupted once the flame arrives in southern Marseille on May 8 ahead of the start of the Games on July 26.
Environmental groups including Extinction Rebellion, anarchist networks or pro-Palestinian demonstrators were pinpointed as potential risks, while the security forces remained on high alert for terror attacks.
The Chief Games organiser Tony Estanguet had on Friday during the drill in the Aube area southeast of Paris said that plain-clothes policemen would be jogging alongside the torch bearer.
Anti-terror and riot policemen in vehicles as well as anti-drone specialists will be permanently but inconspicuously deployed as the torch moves around.
The Olympic flame will be traveling through 400 towns and dozens of tourist attractions during its 12,000-kilometre (7,500-mile) journey through mainland France and overseas French territories in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Pacific.
Gerald Darmanin, France’s Interior Minister is anxious to avoid a repetition of the tumultuous scenes in 2008 during the torch relay ahead of the Beijing Olympics which travelled through multiple countries.
French authorities had to constantly extinguish the flame and ended up cutting the relay through Paris because of the protests by pro-Tibet activists and criticisms of China’s human rights record.
This year, the flame will be lit in Olympia in Greece, then brought by boat to Marseille in a three-masted 19th-century French tall ship called the Belum.
Some media reports have alleged that it will finish atop the Eiffel Tower, but organisers are keeping its resting place for the duration of the Games and the identity of the final torch bearer a tightly held secret.
Over half a million people are set to watch in person, including 326,000 with tickets and it is estimated that about 200,000 people will be able to observe the parade from buildings overlooking the waterway.
