Paris 2024 Olympics: France’s high-speed railway hit by arson attacks ahead of opening ceremony

New Delhi: In a shocking turn of events, France’s high-speed railway network was disrupted by arson attacks just hours before the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony. The Paris Games have been in the news for all the wrong reasons with reports of crime incidents dominating headlines ahead of the 33rd edition of the Summer Olympics.

SNCF, which operates the country’s national rail traffic, including the TGV, on France’s high-speed rail network, told AFP that the attacks were coordinated acts of “sabotage”.

“This is a massive attack on a large scale to paralyse the TGV network,” SNCF told AFP, adding that many routes would be cancelled.

“SNCF was the victim of several simultaneous malicious acts overnight,” the national train operator said, adding that the attacks affected its Atlantic, northern and eastern lines.

“Arson attacks were started to damage our facilities,” it said, adding that traffic on the affected lines was “heavily disrupted” and the situation would last through the weekend as repairs are conducted.

According to the SNCF officials, close to 800,000 passengers were affected due to the malicious attacks.

Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete slammed the arsonists and said that rail traffic would suffer a great deal throughout the weekend.

Due to the attacks, the connections towards northern, eastern and northwestern France would be halved and cancelled on several routes.

Fortunately, the southeastern line was not affected after the attack was foiled.

Passengers have been advised to postpone their trips and stay away from train stations.

Heavy security not enough

Paris is under heavy security ahead of the opening ceremony of the 33rd edition of the Olympics, with close to 300,000 spectators and VIPs from all across the globe expected to attend the event.

The opening ceremony parade will witness up to 7,500 athletes travel down a six-kilometre stretch of the river Seine on an armada of 85 boats.

For the first time, a Summer Olympics will begin outside the main athletics stadium. France is on high alert for terror attacks ahead of the Olympics.

The crime rate in the French capital is on the rise. An Australian woman was brutally gang-raped earlier this week by five men in the French capital while the Argentine football team was robbed of expensive items ahead of the match against Morocco on Wednesday.

(With AFP Inputs)

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