Vandalism threatens Paris’s big day

Everything was ready.

Central Paris roads have been closed, metro stations have been closed and thousands of police, soldiers and other security forces have been deployed to maintain security on the big day of parades to kick off the Olympics.

But the attackers moved from the capital, in five apparently unguarded areas.

French state-owned train company SNCF said vandals destroyed or attempted to destroy five boxes and electrical installations between 01:00 and 05:30 on Friday.

One site was at Courtalain, east of Le Mans and 150km south-west of Paris. The social media page of the local community posted a photo of the charred cables in the shallow trench, with their SNCF protection stones thrown away.

The SNCF spoke of a “massive, massive attack aimed at paralyzing” its services, including the burning of vehicles and targeted cable theft, not just in Courtalain but in Pagny-sur-Moselle, a town outside the city east of Metz and Croisilles, not away. from the northern town of Arras.

Small sites, but at major intersections on the high-speed TGV network.

Another attempted attack, on another TGV road southeast of Paris in Vergigny, was thwarted by SNCF workers who had just repaired the area early Friday morning.

The destruction was clearly coordinated and the results were immediate, on one of the busiest days imaginable for France’s most venerable railway.

The head of the SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou, spoke of a “planned, calculated, and coordinated” attack that required a major remedial effort.

Friday 26th July marks the start of great exit or a great getaway for many French vacationers from the cities. It is also the day of the opening ceremony of the exhibition that the organizers of the Paris Olympics have been working on for years.

Hundreds of stranded commuters filled the main platforms at Gare Du Nord and Gare Montparnasse, two of Paris’ largest train stations for commuters on the main lines north and west of the capital.

Commuters at Gare du Nord are patiently waiting for news about delayed trains, not just within France but to London, Brussels and Amsterdam.

The popular TGV high-speed network in and out of Paris – north to Lille, west to Le Mans and east to Strasbourg – was down.

At nearby Gare de L’Est, which serves the east, an SNCF official said they were making plans to put high-speed TGV trains on some slower routes, which would mean longer delays and disruptions, but would also save the network. moving.

“Everything points to the fact that these fires were set on purpose,” said Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete. “Time [of the attacks]vans found after people fled, explosives found at the scene.”

The acts of vandalism are clearly, and clearly out of date, to cause a great disturbance on a day when Paris is trying to show its best face to the world.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said the consequences of the rail network are large and serious, and French intelligence and organizational forces have been used “to find and punish those who commit these crimes”.

But who would want to ruin the plans of hundreds of thousands of French tourists and disrupt the start of the Olympic Games?

Just this week a Russian man was arrested for allegedly being involved in a “discredit” plot against the games.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said he was suspected of “planning operations to undermine, disrupt, spy” on behalf of Russia’s FSB intelligence service.

So far no Russian connection has been made by the French authorities in the destruction of railway networks.

Another security source suggested to French media that the arson attack showed all the signs of the left.

In the spring, French authorities suggested that several groups tried to disrupt the Olympic events, including the torch relay that was taking place across France before the opening ceremony.

Mr Darmanin said earlier this month that 3,570 people had been banned from the Games, including people seen as a security risk and “a large number of people with slavery close to Islamist, ultra-left and ultra-right circles”.

About a million people, from athletes and coaches to Olympic volunteers, went through security checks before the Games in Paris.

But preventing vandalism in unguarded rural areas is a completely different prospect.