The French President, Emmanuel Macron has said that the Paris Olympics opening ceremony could move from the River Seine if the security risk posed to be too great.
Macron has said that it could be “limited to the Trocadéro”, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower, instead of the whole stretch of river like planned.
He added that it could even be moved to the Stade de France, regressing to a traditional ceremony.
The opening ceremony will be the first to be held outside a stadium.
Over 10,000 athletes are expected to sail along a 6km stretch of the Seine on 160 barges (estimate).
The organisers had previously planned to seat about 600,000 people to watch the ceremony from riverbanks, but that figure has now been reduced to 300,000.
Already, its been revealed that tourists will not be given free access to watch the ceremony, as was originally planned.
Now, tickets will be by invitation only, and not through an open registration.
Ever since the Islamic State group (IS) issued threats to Champions League quarter-final football matches that would be held in Paris, Madrid and London, security concerns increased.
The Al-Azaim Foundation, a media channel responsible for spreading messages from the IS-K branch of the Islamist militant group. had last week, shared the IS-K post.
Recall that the IS-K had also claimed responsibility for the destructive attack on Crocus City Hall in Moscow last month.
There are also concerns that the Ukraine and Gaza wars could increase the security threat, with French authorities sharing the possibility of a drone attack.
The competition is set to run from 26 July till 11 August. Afterwards, the Paralympic Games will follow from 28 August to 8 September.
