Prosecutors open formal investigation after coordinated attacks cause severe disruption on France’s busiest lines
Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation after saboteurs attacked France’s high-speed railway network in a series of “malicious acts” that brought chaos to the country’s busiest rail lines hours before the Olympic opening ceremony.with the country’s west, north and east, and traffic would be severely disrupted across the country into the weekend.
In September, responsibility for near-identical attacks that caused travel disruption in northern Germany was claimed on an extreme-left website. A security expert, Jérôme Poirot, told RMC radio he thought the attacks were more likely “decided by Russia”. Farandou said five of the TGV network’s “strategic nerve centres” had been targeted on the main high-speed lines connecting Paris to big provincial cities such as Lille in the north, Bordeaux in the south-west, Strasbourg in the east and Marseille in the south-east.
Valérie Pécresse, the head of the Île-de-France region that includes Paris and its surrounding area, said: “Clearly this attack is not a coincidence, it aimed to destabilise France at the moment the Olympic and Paralympic Games are launched.” Several Olympic fixtures, including football matches, will be taking place in stadiums outside Paris, including Nantes and Bordeaux. The travel plans of about 800,000 French holidaymakers will be disrupted this weekend. Farandou said it was a “sad day” because families would be the worst affected by attacks by “irresponsible lunatics”.
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