Paris barricades start to come down after opening ceremony on the Seine, but many still struggling

PARIS -- Gomes Antonio has spent the past few weeks waking up at 4 a.m. to begin his laps around Paris delivering sheets of glass in his white van.

It was the only way the 60-year-old glass vendor was able to navigate shuttered streets throughout the heart of the city and walls blocking off bridges across the Seine River, set up as part of heightened security restrictions for the Olympics 2024 opening ceremony Friday along the waterway.

The metal barricades blocking streets, closed metro stations and then sabotage of French train lines Friday that halted high-speed rail travel heading to and from the city has left Parisians and visitors alike grumbling. But now that the opening ceremony is over, many hope parts of the city center will open back up.

The Pont Des Invalides, a bridge spanning the Seine near the Eiffel Tower, was already opening up Saturday, and some police barricades were being taken down. But people like Antonio said they were still struggling to get to work.

“I’m hoping things will be a bit more flexible” in the coming days, said Antonio, who's Portuguese and has lived in Paris for 42 years. “We have to do a ton of laps."

He planned to drive 4 kilometers to deliver his glass Saturday but had driven more than 10. "I’ve had to change our route, the streets, everything.”

Shops and restaurants also have griped about slower-than-expected business that they largely attributed to the chilling effect from the opening ceremony's security measures. They also pointed to tourists avoiding Paris altogether during the Olympics and many Parisians escaping the city.

At the opening ceremony, rays of light from the Eiffel Tower illuminated a rainy sky, the Olympic cauldron floated up in a hot air balloon and some of the world's most famous singers gave jaw-dropping performances, including Celine Dion and Lady Gaga.

The show left Parisians and visitors alike in awe, but some were still frustrated and unconvinced a day later as crews cleaned up from the ceremony and armed police and military roamed the streets.

“All of this is a red zone,” Antonio said. “Right now, it's a bit easier ... but I think they should open things up more for people who work. ... Without this car, we can't work.”

Up to 45,000 police and gendarmes as well as 10,000 soldiers have been deployed for Olympic security. People needed QR codes to get through snaking metal barriers marking the security zone for the opening ceremony, but many in Paris had struggled to get passes or didn't know they were necessary.

Despite the barricades coming down Saturday, Antonio, who was dropping off glass he had to install at a house Monday, worried that the respite from the transport chaos would only be brief.

Still, he acknowledged that some of the security restrictions were necessary and saw the heavy presence of police blocking off streets important during a “complicated moment" of larger global tensions.

Some Parisians who travel by bike said they were frustrated because they weren't able to cycle home. Others strolling along the Seine as it drizzled said they were thrilled by slashed levels of traffic because they had “never seen Paris so calm on a Saturday." Some welcomed authorities cleaning up metro stations and working to make lines within the city run smoothly.

For 58-year-old Paris resident Katherine Quéroel, walking across the Invalides bridge was exciting after struggling with transport in the past few weeks.

With a sick mother who lives near the Eiffel Tower and a father who just died, she said closed metro stations and bridges added significant hurdles as she tried to take her mother to the hospital and arrange her father's funeral.

Quéroel said she and her mother got a taxi Thursday and had to pay far higher rates than usual trying to find a way across the Seine. It took an hour to travel 2 kilometers, she said.

“Today is much better, because you can walk and go by bicycle. But on Thursday, it was really complicated,” she said Saturday.

Despite some of the blockades lifting, she said she was planning to adjust her travel routes in the long term as Olympic and Paralympic activities are set to run through September.

“We're going to have to organize ourselves,” she said. “But until September, it's going to be difficult.”

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games