Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Rail links attacked ahead of Olympics
FRANCE’S high-speed rail network was hit with widespread and “criminal” acts of vandalism including arson attacks, paralysing travel to Paris from across the rest of France and Europe hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
Officials condemned the attacks as “criminal actions” and prosecutors in Paris opened a national investigation saying the crimes could carry sentences of 15 to 20 years.
As Paris authorities geared up for a spectacular parade along the Seine River, three fires were reported near the tracks on the high-speed lines of Atlantique, Nord and Est, causing disruption that affected hundreds of thousands of travellers.
Among them were two German showjumpers who were on a train to Paris to take part in the opening ceremony but had to turn back in Belgium because of the closures, and who missed the ceremony, German news agency dpa reported.
“There was no longer a chance of making it on time,” rider Philipp Weishaupt, who was travelling with teammate Christian Kukuk, told dpa.
There were no known reports of injuries.
Two out of four trains carrying Olympic athletes to Paris on the western Atlantique line were stopped hours before the opening ceremony.
Franck Dubourdieu, head of the Atlantique line, could not say which athletes were halted or whether they would make it for the ceremony.
He said services were improving and added the impact on the opening ceremony is very small.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said France’s intelligence services have been mobilised to find the perpetrators of “acts of sabotage” which he described as “prepared and co-ordinated”.
He said the sabotage and arson had “a clear objective: blocking the high-speed train network”.