New sabotage in France. This time, the telephone network has been attacked in six departments. The acts of vandalism come after the serious attack that disrupted the high-speed rail lines across the Alps a few hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris. It is not yet clear whether the two episodes are connected. For the train sabotage, the Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, based on indications from the police, has advanced the hypothesis that those responsible are linked to “anarchist” and “far-left” circles, even if the head of the ministry has said he wants to remain “cautious” regarding this hypothesis.
Following the arrest last week of a Russian citizen on suspicion of trying to disrupt the Olympics, speculation remains that the shadow of the Kremlin is behind these attacks. This is the first Summer Olympics in Paris in 100 years, and French security forces are on high alert to prevent terrorist attacks from ruining this historic event. The number of officers deployed has increased following the train sabotage.
The attack on the Sfr telephone network
During the night between Sunday 28 and Monday 29 July, the installations of the telephone operator Société Française du Radiotéléphone (Sfr) were sabotaged, the newspaper was the first to report The Parisian based on police information. According to the agents’ reconstructions, the cables in the electrical cabinets were cut. A large part of the customers of the transalpine telephone operator paid the price.
The acts of vandalism, which have not yet been claimed, were observed in six departments of France: Aude, Bouches-du-Rhône, Drôme, Hérault, Meuse and ‘Oise. The number of customers affected is not yet known and investigations have been opened. Nicolas Guillaume, director of the professional operator Netalis, confirmed to The World cutting long-distance cables, speaking of a “significant slowdown in the network.”
Previous sabotages
These acts of vandalism follow an attack that took place just a few days ago on a repeater antenna in Saint-Orens de Gameville, a town in Haute-Garonne located on the outskirts of Toulouse. In that case, a fire hit the antenna during the night of July 25 to July 26, depriving more than two thousand families of their Internet connection. In that case, the police suspect a claim of responsibility, as a plaque attributable to the small group “No JO” (No Jeux Olympiques – No to the Olympic Games) was found near the site of the fire.
Going back in time, already in April 2022 a series of cuts on several fiber optic cables had caused significant disruptions to the network. A police investigation into these episodes is still ongoing. At the moment, Paris, where the Olympic Games are taking place, is not affected by the sabotage of the telephone network, but the situation in France is particularly tense. The attack launched on the railway network a few hours before the inauguration of the Olympics has created serious inconvenience to the population and the first hypotheses regarding this attack are emerging.
Typical ways of the far left
The French Interior Ministry says far-left activists were behind last week’s arson attacks on the high-speed rail network. “We have identified the profiles of several people,” Gérald Darmanin told the television network France2adding that the saboteurs’ way of operating was typical of “left-wing extremists”. The far-left French anarchists, he recalls France 24have a long tradition of arson attacks against the railway network, although the minister did not provide specific examples to refer to. Darmanin spoke of “deliberate, very precise, extremely well-targeted” attacks, adding: “This is the traditional type of action of the far left.”
Railway fires and sabotage on Olympic day
When asked if the identified profiles were close to the far left, Darmanin replied: “We have to be cautious.” He then stressed that “the question is whether they were manipulated” or whether they acted “for their own gain.” A statement signed by “an unexpected delegation” was sent to several media outlets, expressing support for sabotage and criticizing the Olympic Games, which they called a “celebration of nationalism” and a symbol of the oppression of peoples by nation states.
The Shadows of the Kremlin
The Interior Minister said that this statement was “something resembling a claim”, but also stressed that it could be an “opportunistic claim”. The veiled reference is to the suspicions that the shadow of Vladimir Putin’s Russia is behind these acts of vandalism.
In the days before the attack, French President Emmanuel Macron said Moscow was planning to target the Games. Paris police last week arrested a Russian man, saying he was suspected of “organizing events that could cause destabilization during the Olympic Games.” The Kremlin said it had not been informed of the arrest.
Inconvenience for over 800 thousand people
The predawn attacks on France’s high-speed rail network have caused transport chaos just hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. “The locations were specifically chosen to have the most severe impact, as each fire took down two lines,” Jean-Pierre Farandou, chief executive of SNCF, said in the wake of the attacks, noting that saboteurs were careful about which parts of the rail network to target.
Around 800,000 people were affected by travel disruptions caused by the attacks, with at least 100,000 people having their trains cancelled entirely. All trains were back in service on the morning of July 29 after crews worked around the clock over the weekend to repair the damage, Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete told RTL radio, noting that the costs to state-run rail operator SNCF had been huge.
