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Saboteurs have launched a “malicious” arson attack on France’s rail networks in “an effort to destabilise” the country just hours before the start of the Paris Olympic Games.
Up to 800,000 passengers are facing travel chaos attempting to reach Paris this weekend after high-speed rail services to the French capital were hit by what officials described as “criminal actions” ahead of the opening ceremony on Friday.
The chief executive of France’s rail operator SNCF said that the “French are under attack”, after a series of fires brought trains to a halt, causing the cancellation of multiple services linking Paris to the rest of France as well as neighbouring countries. It was “a premeditated, calculated, coordinated attack” that indicates “a desire to seriously harm” the French people, Jean-Pierre Faranadou added.
Describing the consequences for the rail network as “massive and serious”, French prime minister Gabriel Attal vowed authorities will “find and punish the perpetrators of these criminal acts”. He said the vandals behind the sabotage and arson had the clear objective of strategically targeting the main routes to and from Paris ahead of the Games.
French transport minister Patrice Vergriete said there had been a series of “coordinated malicious acts”. He described people fleeing from the scene of fires and the discovery of incendiary devices, adding: “Everything indicates that these are criminal fires.” National police said authorities were investigating the incidents.
As well as disruption on the Atlantic, North and East lines of the SNCF rail network, French Police also said a bomb alert forced the evacuation of the Franco-Swiss airport of Basel-Mulhouse on Friday following a routine safety protocol. However, the airport resumed operations at midday.
A 40-year-old Russian man suspected of planning to sabotage the Games was arrested on Wednesday – however, French police have not publicly stated any link between the Russian national’s arrest and the arson attack. The Kremlin said it needed more information from authorities in Paris on the case.
Nobody has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Prime minister Mr Attal said it was too early to speculate about who might be behind them. Two security sources told Reuters news agency that initial suspicions pointed toward leftist militants or environmental activists, but cautioned they did not yet have the evidence.
With the local council warning up to 250,000 passengers are set to be affected by the travel disruption on Friday, Mr Faranadou told BFMTV he is “absolutely sorry” after the plans of thousands who had hoped to come to Paris for the Games had been “ruined”.
Valerie Pecresse, president of the regional council of the Greater Paris region, added: “This attack is not a coincidence, it’s an effort to destabilise France.”
The 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris is set to be the biggest event ever organised in France, with 10,500 athletes competing and millions of spectators attending – as many as 15.3 million visitors, according to local reports. The two-and-a-half-week festival of sport involves 32 different disciplines and will conclude on 11 August after 329 events.
Three fires were reported near the tracks on the high-speed lines of Atlantique, Nord and Est as Paris authorities geared up for a parade along the Seine River for the opening ceremony amid tightened security.
The disruption particularly affected Paris’s major Montparnasse station. Videos posted on social networks showed the station hall crammed with passengers.
The Paris police prefecture “concentrated its personnel in Parisian train stations” after the “massive attack” that paralysed the TGV high-speed network, Laurent Nunez, the city police chief, told France Info television.
Speaking at the Gare du Nord station in the French capital, Sarah Moseley, 42, said the disruption was “a hell of a way to start the Olympics” as she tried to travel to London. Meanwhile, Adam Wigley was among the Britons enduring delays as he attempted to reach Paris for the opening ceremony. The 28-year-old from Norfolk feared he would have to “rush” to make it to the event on time after his journey to Paris was delayed for at least an hour.
Travel to and from London beneath the English Channel, to neighbouring Belgium, and across the west, north, and east of France was affected.
One in four Eurostar trains will be cancelled on Friday and over the weekend, the company said, as passengers at St Pancras station in London face 90-minute delays to their journeys.
SNCF said areas affecting rail track intersections were intentionally targeted by the arsonists to double the impact.
Sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said authorities were working to “evaluate the impact on travellers, athletes, and ensure the transport of all delegations to the competition sites” for Paris 2024.
Speaking on BFM television, she added: “Playing against the Games is playing against France, against your own camp, against your country.”
Sir Keir Starmer changed his travel plans after describing the situation as “concerning” as well as “incredibly frustrating” for people travelling to attend the Olympics. A Downing Street spokesperson said the prime minister was meant to travel on Eurostar to Paris ahead of the opening ceremony but flew to France instead due to the disruption and delays.
The British Olympic Association confirmed that only two athletes were scheduled to arrive on Friday and had been subject to minor delays.
The SNCF urged all travellers to postpone their journeys and not go to stations. Repairs were under way but traffic would be severely disrupted until at least the end of the weekend, the operator said.
The attacks occurred against a backdrop of global tensions and heightened security measures as the city prepared for the Games.
More than 300,000 spectators are expected to line the banks of the River Seine on Friday when the athletes parade through the heart of Paris on a flotilla of barges and riverboats, part of an extravagant opening ceremony that will be watched by a global audience.
France is deploying 45,000 police, 10,000 soldiers and 2,000 private security agents to secure the Games, with snipers on rooftops and drones keeping watch from the air.
