France secures River Seine ahead of Summer Games
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00:00Three boats from the Paris Police's River Brigade set off at high speed.
00:06Their target?
00:07A boat behaving suspiciously as it navigates the Seine.
00:11In a matter of seconds, the police take up positions on the boat's lower deck.
00:15It's one of the scenarios being gamed out ahead of the Olympic Opening Ceremony, one
00:19of multiple training drills as the day approaches.
00:22For us, it's about working on the mobility of our agents, taking part in the exercises
00:27and informing them of any unforeseen events that might occur.
00:32Their job is to surveil the Seine, but also its banks, and to disembark as quickly as
00:37possible.
00:38It's an unprecedented mobilisation of security forces.
00:42On Friday, 45,000 police will be on duty and during the games, 20,000 security personnel
00:48and up to 18,000 military.
00:50In the meantime, boats moored along the Seine are given the go-over with a fine tooth comb
00:56by sniffer dogs and naval divers searching for explosives.
01:00We're going to inspect the hull.
01:04They'll do a visual check of everything under the hull, front and back, to see if there
01:08are any suspect devices.
01:11This small flotation device tied to a police boat has an important purpose.
01:16It's a floating drone that has sounded three kilometres up the Seine over three days.
01:20Its sonar reader allows it to literally plumb the depths of the river and detect any suspicious
01:25objects.
01:26We'll look at the light surrounding an object and then the shadows to determine the object's
01:33height, its length, its dimensions in effect.
01:35Right now, we've mainly found bicycles, tyres, objects like that.
01:41So far, no suspicious objects that might spoil the party come Friday.