Fires on French railway tracks have delayed journeys for 800,000 travelers in what the transport minister described as “coordinated attacks of malicious intent.”
A co-ordinated arson attack on the French rail system is turning the first weekend of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris into a nightmare for hundreds of thousands of travelers.
French rail company SNCF announced on Friday its high-speed train system had been hit by “deliberate arson attacks to damage [its] facilities” causing delays and cancellations which are expected to last all weekend.
The disruptions are affecting trains heading East, North and West of Paris, and travelers have been asked to postpone their plans.
To weaken France’s image, to sow chaos, to get security forces focused on other things while they try to get specific targets.
There have been reports about both Russia and Iran being potentially involved.
So far I’ve seen an article about a Russian getting arrested 2 days ago.
French newspapers don’t mention any of those for now, the only mention is that the methodology is similar to previous far-left activism (source: https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/live/2024/07/26/en-direct-attaque-massive-contre-la-sncf-reprise-progressive-du-trafic-un-tiers-des-trains-circuleront-vendredi-apres-midi_6258634_3224.html), which could be a disguise of course. As to why the far-left would do that, there are radical-ecologists that argue it is an unacceptable waste simply for entertainment, considering the climate crisis, for example. It could also be both, local activists helped by foreign influence, willingly or not.
From what I’ve seen, French newspapers have only mentioned the Russian for now.
Russian spy arrested in Paris after alleged plan to ‘destabilize’ Olympic Games (Le Monde, English)