An alternative to the planned opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics has begun to take shape if security concerns rule out an extravaganza on the River Seine.
The original plan is to hold the ceremony outside a stadium for the first time in Games history. On July 26, around 160 boats are set to take the several thousand athletes on a 6-kilometre route along the Seine.
But Le Parisien newspaper, citing senior figures among the organizing committee, reported on Thursday that a scaled-down version has been drawn up in case the full programme with over 300,000 spectators is deemed too risky.
Plan B would be to pick up the athletes at the Olympic Village in Saint-Denis and take them by bus to the foot of the Eiffel Tower, where delegations would then cross the Pont d'Iéna over the Seine.
The whole event would take place without an audience.
The likelihood that the alternative plan will be used remains low, security officials told the newspaper. In the event of a targeted threat, the opening ceremony will simply be cancelled.
Paris was hit by serious Islamist terrorist attacks in 2015 and there has been sporadic violence since.