French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin acknowledged on Monday a possible link between the “ultra-left” and the large-scale sabotage of railway operations that occurred last Friday during the official start of the Olympic Games in Paris.
“We have identified a number of profiles of people who could have carried out this sabotage,” Darmanin told France2, adding that the attacks recorded reflect “the traditional modus operandi of the far left.”
Answering directly the question about the connection of the incident with the far left, the minister stressed that he “will be careful” with these questions, since at the moment it is still unknown to what extent the perpetrators of the sabotage “manipulated or (acted) independently.”
Despite the incident, which caused chaos on the rail system for much of the day, the official said the Olympics were proceeding safely, including the opening ceremony, which was held outside the stadium for the first time, next to the River Seine.
French Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete already guaranteed on Monday that “all trains” on the French high-speed network are operating normally.
“I can confirm that all trains are running this morning, both on the eastern axis (that’s what’s been happening since Saturday) and on the Atlantic corridor. Yesterday. [domingo] We already had an almost normal situation, and in Nord, where yesterday there were three trains out of four, today everything is working normally,” he said.
State rail company SNCF announced on Sunday that repair work was “completely completed” and that “there will be no further disruption to passengers from Monday morning.”
On the night from Thursday to Friday, at 4 am, fiber optic cables running along the roads and providing safety information to drivers (red traffic lights, switches, etc.) were cut and set on fire in several strategic locations.
The sabotage took place in Courtenay (LGV Atlantique), Croisilles (LGV Nord) and Pagny-sur-Moselle (LGV Est).
The situation caused chaos at French train stations on Friday, amid the rush of people leaving and returning from summer holidays, just hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games staged on the Seine.
It is estimated that around 800,000 people will have to travel by train over the weekend.
Patrice Vergriete noted that about 700,000 people still managed to make the trip, while 100,000 had their trips cancelled.
SNCF has promised to compensate the affected passengers.
Following the attack, “significant measures” were put in place to “increase” surveillance of “28,000 kilometres of the high-speed train network”, with “one thousand SNCF maintenance agents” and “250 rail security agents” from SNCF mobilised “until further notice”, as well as “50 drones” and helicopter overflights, the French transport minister described.
The cost of this sabotage “most likely” will amount to millions of euros, between “commercial losses” and “repair costs,” the minister calculated.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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