Members of Channel Nine’s Olympic broadcast team have been attacked during an attempted robbery on the streets of Paris, just four days before the Games.
Two technicians were walking back to their accommodation in Le Bourget, on the outskirts of the French capital, on Monday afternoon local time when a brazen group of thieves tried to steal one of their backpacks.
The pair managed to escape without serious injuries and have since reported the alleged attack to police. Nine newspapers reported.
It is the second terrifying incident involving Australians in Paris, after a young Australian tourist was allegedly raped in a nightlife area.
Australian athletes have since been warned not to go out alone or in their sports gear.
Anna Meares, the Australian chef de mission, said she had not received any reports of threats against team members but was advised to be careful when leaving the athletes’ village.
“I have been informed, it sounds terrible. Obviously our thoughts are with the woman involved and we hope she is cared for and supported in the trauma she has experienced,” Meares said on Tuesday morning.
“Not many details and information have come forward.”
Two technical staff from Channel Nine’s Olympics broadcast team were attacked during an attempted robbery in Paris. Pictured is Channel Nine’s on-air team
Police guard the street ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which begin on Friday
Meares stressed that team members had been extensively briefed on safety measures.
“The information we are relaying to our athletes is that security is very, very high and they can take action as quickly as possible to keep the athletes safe,” she said.
“We have not had any feedback from our athletes that they feel unsafe. We encourage them, when they leave the village, not to go alone, not to wear their team kit, but to just wear normal clothes.
French authorities have launched a major investigation into the alleged gang rape of the young Australian woman, which took place in the early hours of Saturday morning in the northern district of Pigalle.
“We are still waiting for more information about the case itself.”
The attack took place in the early morning of Saturday (local time) on the Boulevard de Clichy.
The women had already been drinking in the bars and clubs around the Moulin Rouge on Friday evening before the men approached them at an unknown location.
She told police she was attacked by a group of five men ‘of African appearance’ at around 5am and brutally raped before escaping and seeking safety in the nearby Dounia kebab shop.
CCTV footage from the Lebanese restaurant on Boulevard de Clinchy in the 18th arrondissement shows the terrified 25-year-old sitting inside the restaurant begging the owners for help as staff and other customers try in vain to comfort her.
Then a man enters the kebab shop, but the woman gestures that he is part of the group that just attacked her.
The attempted robbery in Paris was the second incident involving Australians in 48 hours after a woman (later captured on CCTV in a kebab shop) was allegedly gang-raped
Then the alleged rapist walks up to her, taps her on the shoulder and orders some food.
A guest then confronts the alleged rapist and strikes as staff try to separate them. The man then leaves the restaurant.
Staff and customers, including several men and a blonde woman in a beige dress, continue to comfort the woman until police arrive.
Two officers can be seen talking to the woman about the horrific event, after which she is taken to hospital in Bichat.
The woman, who was described as having her dress “inside out,” also claimed her cell phone had been stolen.
The footage could be crucial to French authorities’ investigation into the alarming incidents, which have cast a pall over the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in the city later this week.
The woman was said to be “disoriented and unable to speak a word of French” when she told police what had happened. She reportedly could not provide details about the exact location or circumstances surrounding the attack.
“Her memory of the evening is extremely vague, but she says she was raped by as many as five men,” said a source who conducted the investigation.
‘She was seen wandering around Pigalle, in a state of confusion and distress.
“Employees at a kebab shop noticed she was wearing her dress backwards when she went inside to get help,” the source said.
A 25-year-old woman sought refuge in a kebab shop in Paris after being brutally raped by five men at around 5am. But moments later, one of the woman’s (blurred left in the image) alleged rapists (circled) approached her before ‘fondling’ her
Harrowing security footage has captured the moment a visibly distraught Australian woman sought refuge in a Parisian kebab shop after she was allegedly gang-raped. People are pictured helping the woman, who is blurred, outside the kebab shop
The Paris prosecutor’s office declined to comment on the video on Tuesday, but confirmed that a judicial investigation had been opened into the accusation of gang rape.
No arrests have been made and no descriptions of suspected attackers have been released.
According to reports, the woman had booked a flight home for the day after the attack, but is now said to be in Paris to help police with their investigation.
The Boulevard de Clinchy, famous for its art and theatre venues, is located in the centre of Paris’ famous red light district. Next to the kebab shop where the woman sought refuge, there is a lap dance club and a sex shop.
It is also less than five kilometres from the Stade de France, which will be the centrepiece of the Olympic Games, which start on Friday.
About 200 employees are working in Paris to cover the Olympic Games through the network on television, radio and in the media.
It is also less than five kilometres from the Stade de France, which will be the centrepiece of the Olympic Games, which start on Friday.
The Australian woman sought refuge in the kebab shop in Paris but was confronted by one of the men who had attacked her minutes earlier. Bystanders are pictured talking to the woman, who is blurred, and police
Australian Olympic team informed after alleged gang rape in Paris
National coach Mike Sneesby is also there and on Monday he took part in the relay with the Olympic torch through the French countryside.
In a new setback for Nine, its Paris print team could be reduced to just four employees, with the others joining planned strikes to demand higher wages.
Journalists from Nine Publishing – which includes the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Australian Financial Review – voted overwhelmingly on Monday to launch a five-day strike starting on Friday, a decision that could impact coverage of the first weekend of the Olympic Games.
The threatened strike is in response to the company’s refusal to pay a fair price that would yield a higher wage increase than the CPI, an audit into pay diversity, quotas and protections against the use of AI.
At least 17 employees covering the Paris Olympics are reportedly facing redundancies if a new deal is not reached by Friday.
Only four of the estimated 17 senior staff have been exempted from the strikes, NewsCorp reported.