Paris 1924 – Paris 2024: When legislative elections disrupt the game

recovery. It is May 4, 1924. The Olympic Games in Paris begin with a rugby match at the specially built Stade Colombes (Eau de Seine), between the French team and Romania, the first confrontation in history between these two countries of the world. Oval, won 59-3 by Tricolores. The President of the Republic is Alexandre Millerand, from the centre-right. As Paris police headquarters recalls, security concerns were indeed numerous.

“The police were thus mobilized against pickpockets who also came in large numbers for the event, and had little to do in terms of traffic: servicing the main competition sites, including the Stade Colombes (Eau de Seine),” was harshly criticized as primitive and expensive.

Expulsion of students

Despite the measures taken regarding vehicles, which were divided into 3 categories (cars, buses, and taxis), each of which had its own possible route in the capital, the doors of Paris soon found themselves crowded, so the police director at the time, Armand Naudin, ordered a certain number of measures to be taken to avoid Traffic jams and accidents. », explains the governorate. To make room for the delegations, students were expelled from the capital's hotels, and winds of discontent blew through the capital.

But let us return to our political affairs. On May 11, seven days after the unofficial opening of the Olympic Games, the first round of the legislative elections of 1924 was held. At that time, two main camps opposed each other: the National Bloc, which was in power at that time, which brought together the center and the right, and for the first time. Once, the so-called Left Cartel alliance, which brought together the radicals, the Socialist Republican Party and the SFIO (French section of the Workers' International). The latter option prevails, causing an institutional crisis. “The bloc demands that Paul Benlevy be appointed president of the chamber, but first, the right-winger Frédéric François Marsal is appointed president of the council… for a government that will last for two days. He is disowned, and the president of the republic, Alexandre Millerand, resigns.

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New boss

On June 13, 1924, elections were held within the Council and Gaston Domergue, president of the Senate and the consensus figure, won with 515 votes out of 815 electors, against 309 for Paul Benlevy and 21 for Severin (what a wonderful vote). First name, editor's note) Camlinat, who will go down in history as the first female communist candidate in the French presidential election. Gaston Domergue would therefore declare the official opening of the Olympic Games in Paris on July 5, 1924. The Olympic Games featured the Flying Finns in athletics and the exploits of the future Tarzan Johnny Weissmuller in swimming.

Tess Larson

<p class="sign">"Tv geek. Certified beer fanatic. Extreme zombie fan. Web aficionado. Food nerd. Coffee junkie."</p>

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