“Howl, howl, set the mood!” » The instruction is accompanied by a big smile and a movement of the hand to indicate that it is time to take a seat. The fifteen extras disperse, and settle down on the benches of a Parisian boat, emptied of tourists for this particular cruise on the Seine.
Outside the boat, the quays of Saint-Cloud and Boulogne-Billancourt pass through the large bay windows. And suddenly, a Zodiac appears. Getting closer to dock. And dumps its cargo of armed men in black on board.
Faces masked, the Raid police officers disperse on the boat. The mission ? “A mass killing is underway on board the boat, at least three hostile people have been identified among the passengers. And we have to intervene,” summarizes Sébastien, the officer in charge of the exercise. This could be the summary of an emergency crisis operation mounted on the evening of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, scheduled on the river on Friday July 26. But this is, for the moment, only one of the scenarios imagined to exercise the intervention unit on Thursday.
On the boat, obviously no athletes or any hostage takers. But staff from Sodexo, owner of the tourist ship loaned for the occasion, and police officers from other services, who came to play the “plastrons”, or the extras. The training is nothing exceptional for the Raid, which usually conducts “one or two per year” of this type. But the police have increased the frequency of their river trips in recent months. Because of the deadline for the Olympics.
The Raid police officers carried out two different exercises, where they notably had to neutralize false hostage-takers. LP/Arnaud Journois
The Raid will, during the opening ceremony, be in charge of securing the Seine in the heart of Paris. The result of a distribution, recorded by the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, with the other specialized intervention units in France. The GIGN will take care of the protection of the personalities present for the occasion and some of its men will be ready to intervene from helicopters, while the anti-gang police officers will be deployed in the streets of the capital and on the quays.
Confidentiality instructions to respect
Ahead of the competition, the Raid also participates in mine clearance of the Seine, associated with the river brigade of the Paris police headquarters and Civil Security. And during the Games, its police officers will be ready to intervene permanently in the Olympic village, and will be responsible for possible operations in Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Seine-et-Marne and the stadiums of Lyon, Lille, Marseille and Nice. But on the highly scrutinized evening of July 26, around a hundred of its operators will be ready to intervene on the river.
“We cannot detail the entire plan, there are obviously confidentiality instructions to respect,” underlines the boss of the Raid, Guillaume Cardy. Prohibition on describing, for example, the angles of attacks by police officers during afternoon exercises. Instructions were also given to the extras of the day to delete any souvenir videos of the intervention of the elite unit. There is no question of broadcasting sequences allowing possible terrorists to anticipate the movements of the Raid in intervention.
The Raid police officers increased the pace of their interventions in anticipation of the Olympics and the opening ceremony on the Seine. LP/Arnaud Journois
This afternoon, the elite cops, whose weapons are filled with colored marking cartridges to simulate shooting, begin by carrying out three “drills”. Approach exercises, without opposition, where they deploy within the ship. The drone, used to transmit images, enters the boat. The police are divided into groups to patrol the boat, from the upper deck in the open air, to the different corners. ” Clear ! “, shouts one of the operators after inspecting empty toilets.
Then, it’s time for thematic exercises where this time we have to deal with the presence of hostages and terrorists. “The idea is to increase the difficulty crescendo,” describes Sébastien. We give them some information, and we have to make do with what we give them. In any case, once on board we see what sauce we are eating. »
First scenario: an armed person is reported on board, without further details. The operators quickly invade the ship, before finding the reason for their arrival: a man, equipped with a grenade, threatens to detonate it. The hostages run behind the police, who open fire. Barely time to debrief, we have to get back on board the Zodiac for the second scenario: that of an attack in progress on the boat, with confusion, hostages, and at least three attackers.
The Raid men quickly deploy on the ship to intervene during this exercise. LP/Arnaud Journois
Here again, the assault takes place with speed and precision. “Boat or not, it remains an intervention as we know how to do,” Sébastien describes again. But the river and the configuration of the ship add constraints. » And which must be controlled in anticipation of a possible attack on one of the barges of the opening ceremony.
The outcome of the day? “Even if it had gone badly, I wouldn’t tell you,” the policeman smiles. The debriefing will be done between operators. In the privacy of this elite unit.
