"Coordinated Sabotage" Paralyzes France's Rail Network As Olympics Begin
A "coordinated sabotage" has paralyzed France's high-speed train network, impacting a quarter million travelers. The number is set to rise to 800k by the end of the weekend, ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
#SNCF trains in France at a standstill after 'massive' arson attack: Chaos for 800,000 travellers. The attack happened just before the #ParisOlympics2024 opening ceremony and a very busy weekend of summer travel.
— World Times (@WorldTimesWT) July 26, 2024
#Paris2024 #OlympicGames https://t.co/Pq2kw9vAyb pic.twitter.com/TQn4zvKptg
In a post on X, French state railway company SNCF described the overnight fire and cutting of critical signal cables near the tracks in Courtalain, northern France, impacting services to Paris, as a "massive attack aimed at paralyzing the high-speed line network."
SNCF said a "large number of trains were diverted or canceled" and requested that "all travelers who can postpone their trip and not go to the station."
The French prime minister has pledged to "find and punish" those responsible for the attack on critical infrastructure.
"Our intelligence services and law enforcement agencies are mobilized to find and punish the perpetrators of these criminal acts," acting prime minister Gabriel Attal said.
It remains unclear who is behind the sabotage, but some Western media outlets have quickly suggested 'Russia - Russia - Russia.'
"The sabotage marks a stunning breach of the sweeping security dragnet that France erected to shield the Games from myriad threats, ranging from Islamist terrorist groups to state-sponsored sabotage planned by adversaries such as Russia or Iran," The Wall Street Journal said.
Jean de Gliniasty, the former French ambassador to Moscow, told French media outlet La Chaîne Info, "We are obviously in a situation of conflict with Russia, and Russia is obviously not going to do anything, and that's an understatement, to help these Olympic Games be a success."
However, an intelligence source told CNN that French intelligence services are also investigating 'the far left.'
A map of today's sabotage of train lines in #France pic.twitter.com/13mP7pyvs5
— Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) July 26, 2024
Gliniasty also addressed the far left threat: "There's a tradition in France of black blocs, every time there's a demonstration they destroy, they break things. In fact, France has been facing these problems for several years now, and we haven't managed to solve them. And so now, of course, it's getting out of hand."
Let's not forget that France and the rest of Europe have seen a significant influx of migrants from third-world countries over the years. There is a risk that some of these migrants could be members of known terrorist groups with intentions to destroy the West.
The sabotage incident, with the saboteurs unknown at this point, should be a wake-up call to the US ahead of the elections.