france sabotage
Train operator SNCF said vandals had damaged signal substations and cables along the lines connecting Paris with a number cities
Fibre-optic cables in several parts of France have been "sabotaged", police said today, three days after the rail system was hit by attacks that halted trains across the country.

Friday's disruption on the rail network came as Paris celebrated the opening of the Olympic Games, and disrupted the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of people.

Police said the cables of several telecoms operators had been sabotaged in six areas of France overnight from yesterday into today but Paris was not affected.


Comment: Seemingly coordinated attacks.


AFP confirmed with major carriers including Free and SFR that they had been affected, although no major disruptions had yet been reported.

"It's vandalism," said Nicolas Chatin, spokesperson for SFR, one of France's four biggest operators.

"Large sections of cables were cut. You would have to use an axe or a grinder," he said.

A source close to the case said nobody had yet said they were responsible for the telecoms sabotage.
It is not yet clear if police are linking the two sets of sabotage attacks.

Several politicians have hinted that "ultra-left" activists might be behind Friday's attacks on the rail network but nothing has been confirmed.


Comment: It seems reasonable to suspect that these attacks are indeed connected.

It's also notable that no group has claimed responsibility, because activists usually want to draw attention to their cause. That no one has come forward gives reason to suppose that, whoever is responsible, is either sending a 'silent' message, or, as we've seen with the surge in sabotage attacks elsewhere, the aim may simply be to sow fear, discontent, and chaos: 'Sabotage': Train derailment of iron ore in Sweden comes just 4 days after reopening following previous derailment


The train network has returned to normal, three days after the coordinated acts of sabotage heavily disrupted travel before the Olympics opening ceremony, Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete said.

Thousands of people had their travel plans thrown into disarray on Friday morning when saboteurs struck France's TGV high-speed train network in a series of pre-dawn attacks across the country.

Train operator SNCF said vandals had damaged signal substations and cables along the lines connecting Paris with cities such as Lille in the north, Bordeaux in the west and Strasbourg in the east.

Another attack on the Paris-Marseille line was foiled.

SNCF said security would be stepped up following the attacks.

It remains unclear who carried out the three arson attacks on strategic points of the rail infrastructure early Friday, or if they were deliberately timed to disrupt the Games' opening spectacle later that day.

The network gradually returned to normal over the weekend following repairs.

"This morning, all trains are running," Mr Vergriete told RTL radio.

The attacks affected 800,000 travellers, but "in the end 700,000 were able to make their trips" while 100,000 were hit by train cancellations, he said.

Since the attacks, 50 drones, 250 rail security agents and 1,000 maintenance workers were deployed to tighten security along the 28,000-kilometre high-speed train network, the minister added.

The incident will likely cost millions of euros, Mr Vergriete said.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said authorities had "identified a certain number of profiles that could have committed" the acts of sabotage.

Far-left French anarchists have a history of targeting the train network with arson attacks.


Comment: Why? The Olympic games opening ceremony was the penultimate tribute to 'far-left' ideology.


The attacks were "deliberate, very precise, extremely well-targeted," Mr Darmanin told France 2 television.

"This is the traditional type of action of the ultra left," he said.

But asked whether the profiles that were identified were close to the far-left, Mr Darmanin said: "We must be cautious."

He said "the question is to know whether they were manipulated" or acted "for their own benefit".


Comment: Indeed.


"These are people who may be close to this movement," the interior minister added.

A statement signed by "an unexpected delegation" was sent to several news media outlets expressing support for the sabotage and criticising the Olympic Games as being a "celebration of nationalism" and the oppression of peoples by nation states.


Comment: After the perverse opening ceremony, many in France may supports these disruptions.


Mr Darmanin said the statement was "something that resembles a claim", but "we must be careful because it could be an opportunistic claim".

The Kremlin dismissed Western media speculation that Russia was behind the series of attacks and said that Western media frequently tried to blame Moscow for everything without evidence.

Asked about the media speculation that Russia was behind the attacks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "These are just the latest fakes - more unsubstantiated accusations."

"The fact is that there are a lot of such low-grade media, and even respected ones, that have recently not shied away from doing anything to blame Russia for everything that is happening," Mr Peskov said.