Destruction 2024: Fake volunteers aim to disrupt Paris Olympics
Critics of the Paris Olympics say the event will negatively impact the environment and benefit big businesses and elites, rather than the locals
Ahead of next year’s Paris Games, an anti-Olympics collective is looking to disrupt the event by recruiting fake volunteers.
Critics of the Paris Olympics say the event will negatively impact the environment and benefit big businesses and elites, rather than the locals.
Saccage 2024, which translates to “Destruction 2024,” has been generating a buzz on social media with its “pseudo-volunteer” plan, saying they should be paid for their efforts.
"Volunteering is supposed to be for the common good and that is not the case for the Olympic Games – it does not have charitable aims," Saccage 2024 member Arthur told Reuters.
The environmental activist, who lives in Saint-Denis where many of the Games will be organized, plans to withdraw at the last minute or try to disrupt the Olympics from within if he is selected to be a volunteer.
Organizers of the Paris Games are looking to recruit 45,000 volunteers, saying it would be an opportunity for those chosen to participate in the Olympics. Candidates are required to demonstrate their motivation and experience, and organizers said they would take the time to ensure the “sincerity” and backgrounds of volunteers.
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The Games are more than a year away and there is no certainty activists will be able to generate the numbers needed to disrupt events. However, the plan reflects widespread discontent in France, with huge protests over a law increasing the pension age and hashtags linking opposition to the reform and the Olympics.
Saccage could not say how many had signed up as would-be disruptors but said it saw a rise in interest after French President Emmanuel Macron rammed through the pensions law without a final vote in parliament.