Behind impressive Olympic preparations, France is being torn apart by deepening polarisation and political crisis
![Behind impressive Olympic preparations, France is being torn apart by deepening polarisation and political crisis](https://e3.365dm.com/24/07/1920x1080/skynews-paris-olympics_6621589.jpg?20240708211138)
As he established France's Fifth Republic, Charles de Gaulle confided to a friend: "I am trying to give France the appearance of a solid, firm, confident and expanding country, while it is a worn-out nation... The whole thing is a perpetual illusion."