Preparations for the Olympic Games are accelerating at every corner of Paris, with President Emmanuel Macron inaugurating the Saint-Denis Aquatic Centre this week, signage being installed on public transport and many unfinished construction works, which the organisation promises will be completed by July. However, what is missing in the French capital is the Olympic spirit. A poll published on Sunday by the newspaper La Tribune Dimanche, and carried out by Ipsos, shows that only 53% of respondents are interested in these Olympic Games, which will take place between 26 July and 11 August, and that one in two respondents say they do not trust the event to be well organised. But where does this discontent come from? "France is a unique democracy in which systematic criticism of everything is considered a national sport, and that is not a bad thing, it means that people are concerned and participate. The French demonstrate, go on strike and I think there is a certain democratic health in this, but of course it generates some embarrassment. So, whether it is the Olympic Games or another event, the French will exercise their critical spirit," explained Patrick Clastres, Olympic historian and professor at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Lausanne, in statements to the Lusa agency. As early as 2020, when more became known about the exact location of the major infrastructures for Paris2024 - with a large part to be installed in the outskirts of the capital, in some of the poorest municipalities in France such as Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen or Aubervilliers - the collective Saccage 2024, or looting, was created. This is an anonymous collective that brings together several associations from the Seine-Saint-Denis department, one of the poorest in France, and has been fighting for the past four years against the installation of the Olympic Village, training centres or even new access routes to the Stade de France for destroying green areas or displacing associations that support the poorest in these cities. "We started to see these impacts linked to the construction of large structures from the beginning, since many residents were removed from the places where the Olympic Village was built. Another example is that a community garden, which had existed for decades, was destroyed to build the Olympic swimming pool," Natsuko, a member of this collective, told Lusa. For almost a century, the French authorities have been trying to solve the problem of population density in Paris and a project that began to be studied in the early 2000s is the Grand Paris, which plans to extend the borders of the capital to the nearest cities. For the Saccage 2024 collective, the Olympic Games were just a pretext to move forward with this project. "It is clear that there is a lot of real estate pressure in these cities, but it predates the Olympic Games themselves, with the idea of extending the city of Paris to its closest suburbs. The Olympic Games were an accelerator of this process and we know very well that many people have been forced to leave their homes in recent years," added Natsuko. In Saint-Denis, since the announcement of the awarding of the Olympic Games to Paris (in 2017), the price of houses has increased by 25%, a trend that has spread to the entire Paris region, Île-de-France, and which has coincided in recent years with a real estate crisis and a reduction in purchasing power that makes the festive atmosphere difficult. "It is important to create a national identity for the Olympic Games, but around what? We are living in a time in France when foreigners are being expelled, illegal immigrants are being persecuted and the French themselves see their rights being reduced every day, with their standard of living dropping considerably. People are witnessing this and, at the same time, so much public money is being invested in a single event," said Patrick Clastres. Paris2024 will also serve as a 'settling of accounts' for many sectors that are unhappy with the last few years of Emmanuel Macron's government, especially the pension system reform approved in mid-2023 without social consultation. Thus, between July and August, the CGT, one of the largest trade union confederations in the country, has already submitted several strike notices, namely with regard to health professionals in hospitals, but also customs officers, street cleaners and even public transport. For Patrick Clastres, there is a failure to create enthusiasm about an event "that allows for the creation of bonds" for the future and that will allow around 15,000 athletes from all over the world to gather in a single place. "Neither the International Olympic Committee, nor the French Olympic Committee, nor the government, nor the President of the Republic have been able to create a discourse that involves the population. We do not even understand very well why France is organising these Games, nor does the office of the Minister of Sports. In 2017, Paris was almost the only candidate," commented the academic. Natsuko hopes that Paris2024 will serve as a way for the French to mobilise against the Winter Olympics that France will host in 2030. "I think that people, in general, do not care about these Olympic Games. There is neither general joy nor indignation. There is a total lack of interest. Now, they are going to happen, it is no longer possible to cancel them. What I hope is that, at a time when France has a budget deficit of 5.5%, there will be more debate about whether or not to hold the 2030 Winter Olympics," concluded Natsuko. Read Also: Kylian Mbappé leaves a message after PSG's qualification in the Champions League (Portuguese version)