Saboteurs attack French railways, causing chaos hours before Olympic ceremony
Adds SNCF chief, police source
By Dominique Vidalon, Elizabeth Pineau
PARIS, July 26 (Reuters) - Saboteursattacked France's TGV high-speed train network in coordinated actions that caused chaos on the country's busiest rail lines ahead of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony on Friday.
The action took place despite a massive security operation involving tens of thousandsof troop and police to guard against any threat to the global sporting extravaganza.
The state-owned railway operator said arsonists had damaged signal boxes along the lines connecting Paris with cities such as Lille in the north, Bordeaux in west and Strasbourg in the east. Another attack on the Paris-Marseille line was foiled.
Hundreds of thousands of people were left stranded.
The SNCF urged all travellers to postpone their journeys. Repairs were underway but traffic would be severely disrupted until at least the end of the weekend. Trains were being sent back to their points of departure.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility and no indication of whether the action was politically motivated.
"Everything leads us to believe that these were criminal acts," Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete told reporters at the Gare du Nord.
The attacks targeted signaling installations on the Atlantic, Northern and Eastern high-speed lines with fires set off through the use of explosive devices, the SNCF said.
SNCF chief Jean-Pierre Farandou said some 800,000 customers had been impacted ahead of a busy weekend for French holidaymakers. Thousands of rail staff had been deployed to repair the damage.
The coordinated strikes on the rail network will feed into a sense of apprehension ahead of the Olympics opening ceremony in the heart of Paris later on Friday.
DESTABILISING FRANCE
"This attack is not a coincidence, it's an effort to destabilise France," Valerie Pecresse, president of the Paris region, told reporters.
France is rolling out an unprecedented peacetime security operation to secure the event, with more than 45,000 police, 10,000 soldiers and 2,000 private security agents deployed. Snipers will be on rooftops and drones keeping watch from the air.
But while the capital is locked down for the opening ceremony, security elsewhere in the country is lighter.
Paris 2024 said it was working closely with the SNCF to assess the situation. The attacks will make it tougher for people travelling to Paris from other areas of France.
Some teams like the U.S. basketball team are based in Paris and would have travelled on Saturday by train to the northern city of Lille.
The Paris police chief said he was beefing up security yet further at the capital's main stations.
The stations were packed with passengers. Many were preparing to go off on their summer holidays and some had already been waiting several hours.
At the Gare de L'Est, traveller Corinne Lecocq said her train to Strasbourg on the border with Germany had been cancelled.
"We'll take the slow line," she said. "I'm on holiday so it's OK, even if it is irritating to be late."
Xavier Hiegel, 39, said he was just trying to get home for the weekend and could not believe that people would want to impact the Olympics.
"The Games bring jobs so this really is nonsense. I hope the people responsible will be found and punished," he said.
PARIS OLYMPICS 2024: What you need to know right now ID:nL1N3JH0V9
Additional reporting by Marine Strauss, Juliette Jabkhiro; writing by John Irish; editing by Richard Lough, Angus MacSwan and Rachel Armstrong
Últimas notícias
Isenção de Responsabilidade: As entidades do XM Group proporcionam serviço de apenas-execução e acesso à nossa plataforma online de negociação, permitindo a visualização e/ou uso do conteúdo disponível no website ou através deste, o que não se destina a alterar ou a expandir o supracitado. Tal acesso e uso estão sempre sujeitos a: (i) Termos e Condições; (ii) Avisos de Risco; e (iii) Termos de Responsabilidade. Este, é desta forma, fornecido como informação generalizada. Particularmente, por favor esteja ciente que os conteúdos da nossa plataforma online de negociação não constituem solicitação ou oferta para iniciar qualquer transação nos mercados financeiros. Negociar em qualquer mercado financeiro envolve um nível de risco significativo de perda do capital.
Todo o material publicado na nossa plataforma de negociação online tem apenas objetivos educacionais/informativos e não contém — e não deve ser considerado conter — conselhos e recomendações financeiras, de negociação ou fiscalidade de investimentos, registo de preços de negociação, oferta e solicitação de transação em qualquer instrumento financeiro ou promoção financeira não solicitada direcionadas a si.
Qual conteúdo obtido por uma terceira parte, assim como o conteúdo preparado pela XM, tais como, opiniões, pesquisa, análises, preços, outra informação ou links para websites de terceiras partes contidos neste website são prestados "no estado em que se encontram", como um comentário de mercado generalizado e não constitui conselho de investimento. Na medida em que qualquer conteúdo é construído como pesquisa de investimento, deve considerar e aceitar que este não tem como objetivo e nem foi preparado de acordo com os requisitos legais concebidos para promover a independência da pesquisa de investimento, desta forma, deve ser considerado material de marketing sob as leis e regulações relevantes. Por favor, certifique-se que leu e compreendeu a nossa Notificação sobre Pesquisa de Investimento não-independente e o Aviso de Risco, relativos à informação supracitada, os quais podem ser acedidos aqui.
