Will Paris residents be forced to stay home during the 2024 Summer Olympics?

Multiple media outlets and social media accounts have been claiming authorities in the Paris region are considering implementing a lockdown for the city’s residents during the Summer Games in 2024. 

Why? According to the posts, the region’s public transport system may not be ready to welcome so many visitors at once. 

Therefore, many believe authorities will force the city’s residents to stay home during peak hours from the 26th of July until the 11th of August. 

“It is hard to believe that the organisation of a sporting event would be enough to justify such a restriction on the freedom of movement. This is totally disproportionate,” said one X user.

“After QR codes, video surveillance with facial recognition, and restrictions on freedom, the prefect of Police is considering an “Olympic lockdown” for all residents,” tweeted Florian Philippot, a French far-right politician.

The claim was widely shared after the French newspaper Le Monde mentioned a lockdown as an option currently being evaluated by the French authorities. 

The first time the option of a lockdown during the Olympics was ever mentioned was on 6 December by the French satirical newspaper Le Canard enchaîné. 

In the article, the newspaper reveals that the prefect of Paris, Marc Guillaume, sent a letter to the Minister for Transport Clement Beaune. 

The letter said that in certain areas of the city, “public transport could only welcome spectators if the rest of the population was told not to use the same routes.”

The author of the article then concluded with a joke asking whether this is the start of an “Olympic lockdown.”

The quip was picked up by multiple news outlets including Le Monde who took the satirical comment at face value. 

The newspaper quickly issued an apology but it was too late. Multiple social media users had already screenshotted the passage and started massively sharing this false allegation. 

The prefect of the Paris region Marc Guillaume denied having ever mentioned a “lockdown,” in particular in his letter addressed to the Minister for Transport. 

But concerns are indeed increasing about whether Paris’s transportation system will be ready. 

Several metro and inner-city lines are often saturated at peak times and there are significant staff shortages.

During a normal summer period, Paris’s public transport system welcomes between 8 and 9 million people daily. 

But during the Olympic Games, there are expected to be up to 1.5 million extra visitors.

However, the committee in charge of public transport in the Paris region has stressed there will be enough transportation options ready in time for the Summer Games.