Getty Images
The coordinated arson attacks on the French railway system TGV high-speed train network had caused chaos in the country ahead of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony on Friday.
The action took place despite a massive security operation involving tens of thousands of troops 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 the 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 signalling 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.
"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 is nonsense. I hope the people responsible will be found and punished," he said.
奧運開幕前幾小時法國火車網遭縱火攻擊
在周五巴黎奧運開幕式之前，針對法國鐵路系統 TGV 高速列車網絡的協同縱火襲擊在該國造成了混亂。
儘管有數萬名軍隊和警察參與的大規模安全行動，以防範對全球體育盛會的任何威脅，但這項行動還是發生了。
這家國有鐵路營運商表示，縱火犯破壞了連接巴黎與北部裡爾、西部波爾多和東部斯特拉斯堡等城市的沿線信號箱。 對巴黎-馬賽線的另一次攻擊被挫敗。
數十萬人被困。
SNCF 敦促所有旅客推遲行程。 維修工作正在進行中，但至少在周末之前交通都會受到嚴重干擾。 火車正被送回出發點。
沒有立即聲稱對此事負責，也沒有跡象表明該行動是否出於政治動機。
「一切都讓我們相信這些都是犯罪行為，」交通部長帕特里斯·韋爾格里特在巴黎北站告訴記者。
法國國家鐵路公司表示，攻擊目標是大西洋、北部和東部高速線路上的信號裝置，並使用爆炸裝置引發火災。
SNCF 執行長 Jean-Pierre Farandou 表示，在法國度假者繁忙的周末到來之前，約有 80 萬客戶受到了影響。 數千名鐵路工作人員已部署來修復損壞。
在周五晚些時候在巴黎市中心舉行的奧運會開幕式之前，鐵路網絡的協調罷工將加劇人們的擔憂。
巴黎大區主席瓦萊麗·佩克萊斯 (Valerie Pecresse) 對記者表示：“這次襲擊並非巧合，而是企圖破壞法國穩定。”
法國正在採取前所未有的和平時期安全行動來保障這項活動的安全，部署了超過 45,000 名警察、10,000 名士兵和 2,000 名私人保全人員。 狙擊手將在屋頂上進行監視，無人機將在空中進行監視。
不過，雖然首都因開幕式而被封鎖，但該國其他地方的安全狀況卻較寬鬆。
巴黎2024表示正在與SNCF密切合作評估情況。 這些攻擊將使從法國其他地區前往巴黎的人們更加困難。
美國籃球隊等一些球隊的總部設在巴黎，週六將搭火車前往北部城市裡爾。
巴黎警察局長表示，他正在進一步加強首都主要車站的安全保障。
車站擠滿了乘客。 許多人正準備出發去度暑假，有些人已經等了幾個小時。
在巴黎東站，旅客科琳·勒科克 (Corinne Lecocq) 表示，她前往德國邊境斯特拉斯堡的火車已被取消。
「我們會走慢線，」她說。 “我正在度假，所以沒關係，即使遲到會很煩人。”
39 歲的 Xavier Hiegel 表示，他只是想回家過週末，無法相信人們會想要影響奧運。
「奧運會帶來了就業機會，所以這確實是無稽之談。我希望責任人能夠被發現並受到懲罰，」他說。
Source: Reuters
Comments