By Associated Press
PARIS — Arsonists attacked France’s high-speed rail network on Friday morning, preventing some 800,000 people from traveling to Paris, including Olympic athletes heading to the Games’ grand opening ceremony that evening.
French officials condemned the attacks as “criminal acts” although they said there was no sign of a direct link to the Games. Prosecutors in Paris opened a national investigation and said the crimes – which include damage to property that threatens the country’s “fundamental interests” – could carry sentences of 10 to 20 years.
“It’s a great way to start the Olympics,” said Sarah Moseley, a 42-year-old traveller who was waiting at Paris’ Gare du Nord station when she heard her train to London was delayed by the chaos on the tracks.
As authorities in Paris prepared for a spectacular parade on and along the Seine, three fires were reported before dawn near the tracks on the Atlantique, Nord and Est high-speed lines, causing disruptions that affected hundreds of thousands of passengers.
Among them were also Olympic athletes.
Two of the four trains carrying Olympic athletes to Paris on the western Atlantique high-speed line were halted hours before the opening ceremony, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. local time (17:30 GMT), due to coordinated sabotage on the tracks, an official with French railway company SNCF said on Friday.
Two German show jumping athletes who were on the train to Paris for the opening ceremony — Philipp Weishaupt and Christian Kukuk — also had to return to Belgium due to the closures, the German press agency dpa reported.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the mass attacks on the high-speed rail line into Paris would “not affect the opening ceremony” of the Games, although cloudy skies and forecast rain also dampened mood as the highly anticipated Games were about to begin.
AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports that France’s sports minister has said there have been “malicious actions” on high-speed lines across the country.
There have been no reports of injuries as a result of the attacks.
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said French intelligence services had been mobilized to find the perpetrators of the “acts of sabotage,” which he described as “prepared and coordinated.”
Attal said the actions had “a clear objective: to block the high-speed train network.” He said the vandals strategically attacked routes from the north, east and west into Paris, just hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
It was “a premeditated, calculated, coordinated attack” that indicates “a desire to seriously harm the French people,” said the CEO of the national railway company SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou.
“The sites were specifically chosen because of the greatest impact, as each fire cut off two lines,” Farandou said.
Rail maintenance workers had managed to thwart a suspected sabotage attempt on tracks southeast of Paris, Farandou said.
Night shift workers spotted intruders and alerted police, Farandou said. “These people, of course, left very quickly when they realized they had been spotted. So, thanks to the railway workers,” Farandou said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t do it everywhere.”
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Travelers sit at the Gare de Montparnasse during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Yasin Dar)
Farandou said repairs were being carried out while police conducted forensic investigations and searched for the perpetrators. He said the fires mainly started in pipes carrying important signal cables. “We have to repair cable by cable, so it is very precise work,” Farandou said.
French Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete said train services were starting up again in the afternoon, particularly on the Atlantique line, which had been completely shut down. “At Montparnasse and Bordeaux stations, which are the hardest hit, we should see one in three trains running this afternoon. Things are already improving,” he said.
The attack came against a backdrop of global tensions and heightened security measures as the city prepared to host the 2024 Olympic Games. Many travellers were planning to come to the capital for the opening ceremony, and many holidaymakers were also en route.
Earlier this week, the French Interior Minister said that about 1,000 people suspected of interfering on behalf of a foreign power would not be allowed to attend the Games.
While he has repeatedly pointed to suspicions of Russian-backed interference, Gerald Darmanin added that such threats have also come from other countries that he did not name. Among those blocked were people suspected of Islamic radicalization or left- or right-wing extremism, or who had significant criminal records, Darmanin said.
The coordinated attacks on the train lines targeted remote locations far from the capital, where 35,000 police are deployed daily for the Olympics, with a maximum of 45,000 for the opening ceremony.
French authorities say they have foiled several plans to disrupt the Olympics, including the arrest of a Russian man on suspicion of plotting to destabilize the Games.
Paris has been the target of deadly terrorist attacks over the past decade, and some French officials saw hosting the Olympics as an opportunity for the country to heal from years of trauma.
The Paris police prefecture has “concentrated its staff in Parisian train stations” after the “massive attack” that paralyzed the TGV high-speed network, Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez told television channel France Info.
Also on Friday morning, France’s Basel-Mulhouse airport on the border with Germany and Switzerland was evacuated and briefly closed “for security reasons,” the airport said. It was not clear whether there was a connection with the attacks on the railway.
The disruptions mainly affected the Parisian Montparnasse station.
Maiwenn Labbé-Sorin said she was stranded on a train in the crowded station hall for hours before it returned to Paris.
“We were without water, without toilets, without electricity for two hours,” she said. “Then we were able to get on the tracks for a bit and then the train went back. Now I’m not sure what’s going to happen.”
Many passengers at Gare du Nord, one of Europe’s busiest train stations, were searching for answers and solutions on Friday morning. All eyes were on the central message boards as most services to northern France, Belgium and the UK were delayed.
Germany’s national railway company, Deutsche Bahn, reported that there were also sudden cancellations and delays of trains between France and Germany.
The unrest broke out ahead of the opening ceremony, which was set to see 7,000 Olympic athletes sail down the Seine past iconic Parisian monuments including Notre-Dame, the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay.
“Disrupting such a celebration of peace with violent acts can never be accepted and demands the most resolute rejection,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, speaking in Paris ahead of the opening ceremony. “I hope that the French authorities will quickly succeed in identifying the perpetrators.”
A leading French cartoonist, Plantu, found inspiration in the rapid response of the railway network. He posted a cartoon on Instagram showing the first three Olympic gold medals going to SNCF agents. Three agents were sketched on the Olympic podium, holding cables and trains, with gold medallions dangling from their necks.
