PARIS (news agencies) — The Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into arson attacks on the French high-speed rail network on Friday.
The National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organized Crime is handling it.
The prosecutor’s office said it had “jurisdiction over crimes involving the deterioration of property that threaten the fundamental interests of the nation.”
This crime, it added, carried a potential 15-year sentence and fines of 225,000 euros.
Further, it said crimes involving “degradation and attempted degradation by dangerous means in an organized group” can carry a 20-year prison sentence and fines of 150,000 euros.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. news agencies’s earlier story follows below.
PARIS (news agencies) — France’s high-speed rail network was hit Friday with widespread and “criminal” acts of vandalism including arson attacks, paralyzing travel to Paris from across the rest of France and Europe only hours before the grand opening ceremony of the Olympics.
French officials described the attacks as “criminal actions” and said they were investigating whether they were linked to the Olympic Games. The disruptions as the world’s eye was turning to Paris were expected to affect a quarter of a million people on Friday and endure through the weekend, and possibly longer, officials said.
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal wrote on the social media platform X that France’s intelligence services have been mobilized to find the perpetrators.
Attal characterized them as “acts of sabotage,” which were “prepared and coordinated.”
There were no known reports of injuries.
Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete described people fleeing from the scene of fires and the discovery of incendiary devices. “Everything indicates that these are criminal fires,” he said.
The incidents paralyzed several high-speed lines linking Paris to the rest of France and to neighboring countries, Vergriete said, speaking on BFM television, Vergriete.
The French national rail company SNCF said that areas affecting rail track intersections were intentionally targeted by the arsonists in the overnight attacks to double the impact.
“For one fire, two destinations were hit,” the company’s CEO, Jean-Pierre Farandou.
It was “a premeditated, calculated, coordinated attack” that indicates “a desire to seriously harm” the French people, 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 travelers were planning to converge on the capital for the opening ceremony, and many vacationers were also in transit.
As Paris authorities geared up for a spectacular parade on and along the Seine River, three fires were reported near the tracks on the high-speed lines of Atlantique, Nord and Est. The disruptions particularly affected Paris’ major Montparnasse station, where the station’s hall was full of travelers.
The Paris police prefecture “concentrated its personnel in Parisian train stations” after the “massive attack” that paralyzed the TGV high-speed network, Laurent Nuñez, the Paris police chief, told France Info television.
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.
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