Arsonists attack French rail network hours before Olympic ceremony
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said that attackers who struck early Friday hours before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics had “a clear objective” to block the country’s high-speed train network.
Attal said the vandals strategically targeted the main routes from the north, east and west toward Paris. He said there will be “massive consequences,” with “hundreds of thousands” of people stuck while trying to visit Paris for the Games or vacation.
Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete earlier described people fleeing from the scene of fires and the discovery of incendiary devices.
There were no known reports of injuries.
It was “a premeditated, calculated, co-ordinated attack” that indicates “a desire to seriously harm” the French people, French national rail company SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou said. “The places were especially chosen to have the most serious impact, since each fire cut off two lines,” Farandou said.
The attack occurred against a backdrop of global tensions and heightened security measures as the city prepared for the 2024 Olympic Games. Many travellers were planning to converge on the capital for the opening ceremony, and many vacationers were also in transit.
While officials responded to the high-rail network incidents, flights were temporarily suspended and the airport at Basel-Mulhouse near the Swiss border was evacuated on Friday due to a bomb alert. An air traffic controller at the airport told Reuters it was the seventh alert since last October, and it led to the cancellation of an Air France flight to Paris.
By midday, the airport resumed normal operations.
As Paris authorities geared up for a spectacular parade on and along the Seine River amid tightened security, the rail fires were reported near the tracks on the high-speed lines of Atlantique, Nord and Est. The disruptions particularly affected Paris’s major Montparnasse station. Videos posted on social networks showed the hall of the station saturated with travellers.
The Paris police prefecture “concentrated its personnel in Parisian train stations” after the “massive attack” that paralyzed the TGV high-speed network, Laurent Nunez, the Paris police chief, told France Info television.
Some 7,000 Olympic athletes are due to sail down the Seine past iconic Parisian monuments such as Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Louvre Museum, and the Musee d’Orsay in the Friday evening opening ceremony.
Two German equestrian athletes who were on a train to Paris are among those who won’t make it to the ceremony.
Philipp Weishaupt, who was travelling with teammate Christian Kukuk, told Germany’s dpa news agency that they had to turn back in Belgium because of the closures.
“There was no longer a chance of making it on time,” said Weishaupt.
‘Hell of a way to start the Olympics’
Many passengers at the Gare du Nord, one of Europe’s busiest train stations, were looking for answers and solutions on Friday morning. All eyes were on the central message boards as most services to northern France, Belgium and the United Kingdom were delayed.
“It’s a hell of a way to start the Olympics,” said Sarah Moseley, 42, as she learned that her train to London was an hour late.
“They should have more information for tourists, especially if it’s a malicious attack,” said Corey Grainger, a 37-year-old Australian sales manager on his way to London, as he rested on his two suitcases in the middle of the station.
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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 the Olympics. Speaking on BFM television, she added, “Playing against the Games is playing against France, against your own camp, against your country,” though it’s not yet clear if the suspects were from France or outside the country.
SNCF said it did not know when traffic would resume and feared that disruptions would continue “at least all weekend.” SNCF teams “were already on site to carry out diagnostics and begin repairs,” but the “situation should last at least all weekend while the repairs are carried out,” the operator said. SNCF advised “all passengers to postpone their journey and not to go to the station,” specifying in its press release that all tickets were exchangeable and refundable.
Valerie Pecresse, president of the regional council of the greater Paris region said “250,000 travellers will be affected today on all these lines.” Substitution plans were underway, but Pecresse advised travellers “not to go to stations.”
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