Saboteurs hit France's TGV high-speed train network yesterday in a series of pre-dawn attacks across the country, causing travel chaos and exposing security holes ahead of last night's Olympic opening ceremony.
The coordinated sabotage occurred as a major security operation involving tens of thousands of police and soldiers is underway in France, with unprecedented security measures in place to restrict movement in the capital, described by some as a city under steel armor.
State rail company SNCF said vandals damaged signaling substations and cables along lines linking Paris to cities such as Lille in the north, Bordeaux in the west and Strasbourg in the east. An attack on the Paris-Marseille railway was prevented.
Yesterday, no one claimed responsibility for the attacks on the rail network, which is a source of pride for many in France. Two security sources told Reuters that because of the way the operation was carried out, the first suspicion fell on left-wing militants or environmental activists, but stressed that there was no evidence yet.
The Paris prosecutor's office said the investigation would be overseen by its organized crime division, with investigations coordinated by the anti-terrorist department (SDAT), a branch of the police that usually monitors far-left, far-right and radical environmental groups. Prime Minister Gabriel Atal declined to speculate on the possibility that such groups were behind the sabotage.
"What we know, what we see is that this operation was prepared, coordinated and that the 'nerve centers' were targeted, which shows a certain knowledge of the network and knowledge of where to strike," said Atal during a visit to the crisis center of the Ministry of Transport.
The coordinated attacks on the rail network have heightened the sense of anxiety ahead of the opening of the Olympic Games in the heart of Paris.
In a separate case, Basel-Mulhouse Airport, located on France's border with Switzerland, was temporarily closed and evacuated due to a security threat.
President of the International Olympic Committee Tomas Bah said that he has full confidence in the French authorities. "I have no fears," he told reporters in the Olympic Village yesterday.
About 300 people watched the opening ceremony from the banks of the Seine last night, which was also attended by numerous world leaders. France deployed 000 police, 45 soldiers and 000 private security agents to secure the ceremony with snipers on rooftops and drones in the air. However, while the capital is practically a closed city, security in other parts of the country is more relaxed.
The Olympics in Paris are being held in a tense geopolitical atmosphere. Since the last Games - the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022 - wars have broken out in Ukraine and Gaza. Competitors from Israel in Paris are protected by members of elite tactical units during arrival and return to the events and have a constant security escort.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), due to the sanctions imposed on Russia due to the war in Ukraine, decided that Russian athletes can compete under a neutral flag and as part of "neutral athletes" or "neutral teams", which means that they cannot use Russian symbols or colors .
French authorities said they had thwarted several plans to disrupt the Olympics in the months and weeks, including the arrest of a Russian national on suspicion of plotting to destabilize the games.
Earlier this week, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said around 1.000 people suspected of interfering on behalf of a foreign power had been prevented from attending the Games. Among them were people suspected of being Islamic radicals or belonging to left- or right-wing political extremists, as well as those with significant criminal records, he added.
Although he repeatedly indicated suspicions of interference with the support of Russia, Darmanin added that such threats also came from other countries that he did not name.
Paris has been the target of deadly terrorist attacks in the past decade, and some French officials saw the Games as an opportunity for the nation to recover from years of trauma.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who won a second term two years ago, hoped the Olympics would cement his legacy. However, after the extraordinary parliamentary elections, his position was significantly weakened on the domestic and international scene.
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