BERLIN (Reuters) – International Olympic officials expressed regret on Tuesday at recent turmoil in France but said they were confident the country would hold a successful and welcoming Games next year.
The fatal shooting by a police officer of Nahel, a 17-year-old with Algerian and Moroccan parents, a week ago triggered both peaceful protests and a wave of riots across several major cities with police making hundreds of arrests daily.
Rioters torched cars, looted stores and targeted town halls, state-owned schools and other properties. Paris suburbs and Marseille in the south have been flashpoints but the situation appears to have calmed this week.
“We have learnt with regret about the recent incidents in France,” a spokesperson for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said, emphasising that the violence had nothing to do with the Games.
Olympic venues have not been directly affected by the riots, although the facade of a Paris Olympics aquatic training centre was damaged during the violence.
“We have full confidence in the organising committee and the French authorities to deliver successful Olympic and Paralympic Games and in the hospitality of the French people to welcome the world to these Games,” the IOC spokesperson said.
Paris will host the Games from July 26-Aug 11, 2024.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
