The threat from ISIS on the PSG-Barcelona match ends up transforming Paris into an almost police city

Paris under lockdown with more police and soldiers on patrol on the main avenues and in the elegant suburb of Neuilly sur Seine. To the “urgency of attack”, decreed after the terrorist attack in Moscow, to the obligation to circulate in the city during the Olympic Games and to the fear of a terrorist attack, Now a direct threat from ISIS K about the quarter-final match of the Champions League at the Parc des Princes, where the French team Paris St Germain (PSG) will face Barcelona.

In a message spread on the Internet, ISIS threatened the football stadiums in Madrid, London and Paris, where the matches will be played. At the Parc des Princes, security measures were “significantly strengthened” as in Madrid, for the match between Atlético and Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday evening.

On Tuesday, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced that “the prefect of the Paris police has significantly strengthened security resources”, in the face of this “clearly mentioned threat from the Islamic State”.

ISIS Khorasan threatens

It is not the ISIS that devastated the Bataclan, the cafes and terraces of Paris in 2015, nor the one that murdered the Charlie Hebdo editorial team. The threat is ISIS Khorasan, which has its origins in the violent Pakistani ISIS, joined by Afghans and what remains of Al Qaeda in the mountains of Waziristan, as well as new militants from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. The one who attacked a concert and left at least 190 deaths recently in the suburbs of Moscow.

The date is providential. It’s “Eid Al Fitr” for Muslims, the end of Ramadan, which began March 11. There will be parties, gifts, mosque visits, prayers and large family gatherings. Clothes, money and sweets are distributed. Ethnic or religious statistics are prohibited in France but are estimated to live here at least 6 million Muslims.

PSG on the periphery

On the outskirts of Paris is the PSG stadium in one of the chicest areas of the French capitalnear Bois de Boulogne and Neuilly sur Seine, not far from the North American school and the residences of ambassadors and VIPs.

A place disputed between the mayor of Paris and the owners of Qatar, who are unable to obtain authorization to expand their facilities. If they are accepted, they have decided to move further away, to Aulnay Sous Bois, near Charles de Gaulle airport, in this space dispute.

“In my neighborhood There are military patrols consisting of five soldiers with weapons of war “Just down the street,” Danielle, a French woman who lives in Auteuil, a few meters from the Parc des Princes, described Wednesday. Nicolás Sarkozy and Carla Bruni also have homes in the area, for example.

PSG suddenly sent an email to all its partners on Tuesday. Tickets were available for sale.. Fans returned them for fear of attack and they returned to be resold.

The club was worried, as was the players’ insurance. “How many millions do Kylian Mbappe’s legs or Gianluigi Donnarumma’s hands cost?” asked Henry, a fan who had returned the ticket. “I don’t want to worry my family. That’s why I won’t come”, he justified himself.

Exceptional measures

Due to the threats of the Islamic State-Khorasan, the Minister of the Interior deploys exceptional resources in Paris and around the stadium. The match will start at 9pm French time.

Police He removed the cars parked around it and installed bomb-proof concrete blocks. Other officers roam the streets on horseback.

The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, chaired a meeting on the eve of the match with officials from the DGSI, territorial intelligence, the police headquarters and the general directorates of the national police and the gendarmerie. A mobilization justified by the reality of the threat that Daesh represents for Europe, less than three weeks after the attack on Moscow.

ISIS K has one goal: to prove it to Putin or Macron or the Spanish or the Germansthey are all Western, Christians, against Muslims. And they have to eliminate them to be kafir (non-believers).

At least a thousand police officers will be present at the stadium. With additional mobile force units, police officers from the Investigation and Intervention Brigade (BRI), a greater number of patrols and the use of specialized technical means, such as drones and other detection equipment.

The threat is unfortunately classic, but the reactions in Paris, London and Madrid demonstrate the extent of the Islamic terrorist risk in Europe. In a propaganda message spread by nearby sites Daesh (Isis) In recent days the Islamic State has been directly threatening the stadiums that will host the Champions League quarter-final matches.

“UEFA is aware of the terrorist threats made this week towards Champions League matches and is working closely with the authorities at the respective venues. “All matches will be played as scheduled with appropriate safety measures in place,” the European soccer body said in a statement.

A QR for the Olympic Games

But the fear is of France They’re your Olympics, its opening ceremony on the Seine with 280,000 guests and 170 sailing boats, in an open space, on June 26.

This is why the Minister of the Interior announced it the French will have to issue a QR who want to reach or pass through the security areas of Paris, where the games or their ceremonies take place. You must join an application on May 10 to be investigated and will begin operating one week before the Games.

Without her No one will be able to move freely in a safe area or go to a house to witness the ceremony from your balcony or at a local restaurant. It was what the Parisians were missing they want to flee the city en masse from July to August, when the Olympics end.

The threat

In one of the images released, a man with his face hidden and armed with a Kalashnikov, against a background of bloody images and a concise slogan: “Kill them all”. All accompanied by the names of the four stages: i Emirates Stadium in Londonwhere Arsenal and Bayern Munich met on Tuesday evening, the Santiago Bernabeu and the Metropolitan of Madridwith Real Madrid-Manchester City on Tuesday and Atlético de Madrid-Dortmund on Wednesday and, finally, the Parc des Princes in Paris, where PSG hosts Barcelona.

The message was distributed by the al-Azaim Foundation, mentioned in the image. However, the al-Azaim Foundation for media production is said to be an offshoot of the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K).

Daesh calls very regularly, and again recently after the March 22 attack on Moscow, to attack large gatherings. If confirmed, the origin of this latest threat This is particularly worrying.

Attacks dismantled

For more than a year the ISIS plans to carry out attacks in France, Germany and Sweden. And the arrests continue: on Monday in Rome a Tajik citizen was arrested, subject to an international arrest warrant, for having fought in Syria. The man traveled across Europe under different identities and with fake Uzbek, Kyrgyz or Ukrainian passports. A man suspected of being in contact with Swedes linked to EI-K was also arrested in Barcelona on March 26.

On March 28, the spokesperson of the “central” Daesh, Abu Hudhayfah al-Ansari, he welcomed Moscow’s attack and announced new attacks to come. He urged “lone wolves” to attack Christians and Jews, particularly in Europe and the United States.

France is in direct contact with its European counterparts on security matters, according to its Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin.

“Just ten days ago, Islamic State published a photo of the Munich stadium and targeted football and sport in general,” he said. The Interior Minister added: “We must not fall into what terrorist propaganda tries to do: that is, sow terror everywhere.”

It generates terror

As France moved to the “attack urgency” level of the Vigipirate plan on March 25, Gérald Darmanin recalled that Since January 1, two Islamist attacks have been thwarted. In Marseille, a 23-year-old man attacked the Jewish or LGBT community. In Paris a 62-year-old man wanted to attack churches, including Notre-Dame from Paris.

In any case, one conclusion is clear: Islamic State propagandists have already achieved part of their goal. It generates terror.

Faced with the terrorist threat to the Olympic Games, “we are preparing different scenarios”, said President Emmanuel Macron.