Just hours before the Paris Olympics 2024 opening ceremony, arson attacks on France’s high-speed railway network disrupted travel, preventing many spectators from reaching Paris. Fires near key rail lines caused significant disruptions, and the French Prime Minister condemned the coordinated sabotag
Just a few hours prior to the opening ceremony of the biggest sporting extravaganza, Paris Olympics 2024, France’s high speed railway network was struck by massive arson attacks. This was a measure adopted by the arsonists to express their anger for organizing the Olympics in Paris amidst the political crisis.
The aim of the attack was to curb the traveling of the spectators to Paris from across Europe (since rail network in Europe is inter-connected with various countries). While Paris officials prepared for a large-scale parade along the Seine River, three fires broke out near the tracks of the high-speed rail lines serving the Atlantic, Northern, and Eastern regions. These fires caused significant travel disruptions impacting countless passengers.
As per German news agency report, two of the German athletes who were supposed to participate in the Olympics game had to backtrack to Belgium due to railway line closures.
If the reports are to be believed, the vandals have damaged the signal control centers on rail lines linking Paris to cities like Lille, Bordeaux, and Strasbourg. An unsuccessful attack on the Paris-Marseille railway was also carried out.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for these large-scale arson attacks across the country’s railway lines. However, the Prime Minister of France, Gabriel Attal has expressed his views on X platform “Early this morning, acts of sabotage were carried out in a prepared and coordinated manner on SNCF installations. The consequences on the rail network are massive and serious,”. Furthermore, he stated that “Our intelligence services and law enforcement are mobilized to find and punish the perpetrators of these criminal acts,”.
The arson attacks amidst the organization of Olympics would compel the French government to address immediate security threats, manage logistical challenges, mitigate economic impacts, handle political fallout, and coordinate a comprehensive response involving law enforcement, intelligence, and international cooperation.
