PARIS (Associated Press) – French interior minister congratulated security forces after no major incident was reported during the opening ceremony.
A massive security operation was deployed to keep the event safe.
The capital’s streets were blocked off, with squadrons of police patrolling and imposing metal-fence security barriers erected like an iron curtain on both sides of the River Seine.
Up to 45,000 police and gendarmes as well as 10,000 soldiers have been deployed for Olympic security.
The long-awaited parade of about 10,000 athletes on the river came as France’s high-speed rail network was hit with widespread and “criminal” acts of vandalism including arson attacks, paralyzing travel to Paris from across the rest of France and Europe.
