Police in Paris, France, documented an alleged gang rape on Monday after an unnamed Australian woman reportedly stumbled in front of a kebab shop accusing five men, whose identity reportedly remain unknown at press time, of capturing and raping her throughout the night from Saturday into Sunday.
The French newspaper Le Figaro reported that locals found the woman in front of the shop, apparently “drunk,” at 5 a.m. local time. Unnamed police sources told the newspaper that they woman described her alleged attackers as appearing “African,” but struggled to communicate as she only spoke English. The woman is believed to be a 25-year-old Australian tourist.
The incident has heightened fears of potential dangers in the French capital city for the thousands of international tourists expected to arrive this week for the opening of the 2024 Summer Olympics, which will formally begin on Friday. French President Emmanuel Macron has insisted that Paris is ready to host a safe and successful edition of the Games, but a wide variety of security concerns have caused anxiety among organizers, both involving violent street crime and political crime such as death threats against the Israeli Olympic team.
“We are ready and we will be ready throughout the Games,” Macron said on Monday. “We have been working on these Games for years now and we are at the start of a decisive week which on Friday will see the opening ceremony and then the Olympiad which will be held in Paris, 100 years since the last one.”
The alleged gang-rape this weekend does not appear to have any direct relationship to the Olympics, aside from the attackers currently being at large. Finding the assailants will likely pose a challenge to law enforcement authorities as reports indicate the victim did not have much actionable information. Le Figaro noted that its police sources said the woman did not have any details regarding where the gang-rape took place or where she came from, as she appeared intoxicated and, as a foreigner, did not know Paris well. The woman was described as wearing a torn dress backwards when she was found in front of the kebab shop.
Police officers control access to roads near the Seine river, ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 22, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
In Australia, where the case has made headlines, the 7News network reported that French authorities announced a “major police investigation” into the case. The woman is believed to be hospitalized at press time and will stay in France to aid in the investigation, though she had previously planned to return home imminently.
7News Sunrise reporter Ash Mullany noted in her report that the Australian Federal Police “have officers on the ground in Paris” and called the case “deeply concerning” given that “we are just days out from the Olympics Opening Ceremony.”
French police began locking down central Paris last week in preparation for the Olympics, whose Opening Ceremonies are expected to take place on the river Seine, rather than the traditional stadium presentation, prompting novel security concerns.
“It will be the first time a Summer Olympics has opened outside the main athletics stadium, with up to 500,000 people set to watch in person from stands, on the river banks and from the overlooking apartments,” the Agence France-Presse reported on July 18. Police have prepared to deploy 45,000 officers for the Opening Ceremony in addition to nearly 2,000 foreign police officers and 10,000 French soldiers.
A local complained to AFP that living in the security bubble was “a bit like being in Planet of the Apes … all they need to do is throw us some peanuts.”
The threat of common crime against tourists is not uncommon for Olympics host cities.
While the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics were largely devoid of major crime headlines, the preceding 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games endured a high-profile crime wave in which muggers and other assailants targeted tourists and athletes. Australian Olympic team Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller complained at the time that the crime was “not an isolated incident, athletes have been mugged while training and competing in Rio test events.” Brazilian athletes warned tourists not to attend the Games.
Towards the end of the competitions, American Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte and several other American athletes were involved in a robbery at gunpoint in which Rio police officers accused the victims of lying about the incident.
The threats facing athletes in Paris have so far seemed more political. French authorities are currently responding to a barrage of death threats sent to members of the Israeli delegation referencing Israel’s self-defense operations against the jihadist terror organization Hamas.
“The People’s Defense Organization announces that it intends to harm any Israeli presence at the Olympics,” one of the death threats, sent via email, read. “You’re not invited to Paris 2024. If you come, take into account that we intend to repeat the events of Munich 1972. Prepare for the intifada!”
There is no known organization going by “the People’s Defense Organization” in the Middle East or relevant to the Mideast conflict. The reference to the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics is meant to recall the killing of 11 Israeli soldiers and a West German soldier after Palestinian terrorists took athletes hostage in the Olympic Village, demanding freedom for various leftist and jihadist terrorists.
In addition to those messages, some Israeli athletes received messages this week containing fake invitations to their own funerals.
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