PARIS (AP) — The 2024 Olympic Games are on high alert, after the French high-speed train network (TGV) was hit on Friday with numerous “criminal” acts of vandalism, including intentional fires, which paralyzed travel to Paris from the rest of France and Europe just hours before the grand Opening Ceremony on the Seine River in the capital.
PUBLICIDAD
The attackers acted in a coordinated manner and their attacks were strategic on the main routes from the north, east, and west towards Paris.
PUBLICIDAD
The authorities opened an investigation into the "criminal actions" that could result in sentences of up to 15 and 20 years in prison, although they pointed out that there was no direct connection to the Olympic event.
Chaos at train stations
The attacks caused uncertainty and delays in the railway system, which is vital for transportation in France, leaving hundreds of thousands of people stranded as they tried to visit Paris for holidays or the Games. The incidents particularly affected the major Montparnasse station in Paris.
Valerie Pecresse, president of the regional council of the Paris region, said that "250,000 travelers will be affected today on all these lines." There were replacement plans in place, but Pecresse recommended that travelers "do not go to the stations."
Among those affected are Olympic athletes who were going to the Opening Ceremony.
Two out of four trains carrying athletes to Paris on the high-speed Atlantique route in the west, were stopped prior to the opening ceremony, said an official from the railway operator SNCF.
Among the affected travelers were two German show jumping competitors, who were on a train to Paris to participate in the Opening Ceremony but had to return to Belgium due to the disruptions and now would miss the event, according to the German news agency DPA. "There were no longer any possibilities of arriving on time," said rider Philipp Weishaupt, who was traveling with his teammate Christian Kukuk.
Authorities' reactions to the attack
The outgoing Prime Minister of France, Gabriel Attal, said that the sabotages and arson attacks had "a clear objective: to block the high-speed train network."
Attal, indicated on social network X that he had mobilized the French intelligence services to find those responsible and described the incidents as "acts of sabotage" that were "prepared and coordinated."
People were seen fleeing from places where several fires had occurred and incendiary devices had been found, said the Minister of Transport, Patrice Vergriet, in statements to the TV channel BFM.
The targeted points were intersections of roads to double the impact, indicated the state railway company SNCF.
Also on Friday, the French airport of Basel-Mulhouse on the border with Germany and Switzerland was evacuated in the morning and remained temporarily closed "for security reasons," according to the airport. It was not clear if this was related to the railway attacks.
In the afternoon, some trains operations resumed.