PARIS — French authorities have arrested far-left activists at a facility belonging to national rail company SNCF, days after sabotage paralyzed the rail network. Olympic GamesA police source said on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity, that the man was detained on Sunday in Oissel, northern France, and had access to SNCF technical facilities, tools and literature linked to the far-left.
The man was detained and questioned by police in Rouen, the main city in France’s Normandy region.
Meanwhile, a new incident “disrupted” fiber-optic networks of several telecommunications carriers in six regions of France, but not Paris, police said Monday. CBS News’ Elaine Cobb noted that internet connections, including some VOIP phone services, were affected, not cell phone services.
French prosecutors said late on Monday they had opened an investigation into the multiple attacks on communications facilities, which would be carried out jointly by counter-terrorism investigators and the national police gendarmerie.
The prosecutor’s office statement did not say why counter-terrorism authorities were involved, but Cobbe said the case may involve a data leak, which could prompt them to include counter-terrorism authorities in the investigation as they often investigate suspected cyber attacks.
Reuters
Unidentified assailants attacked three rail facilities in different regions of France early on Friday, causing days of disruption to the high-speed rail network as Paris hosts the 2024 Olympic Games.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told France 2 television that authorities were investigating the theory that far-left groups were behind the attack, which closely resembled attacks on rail infrastructure carried out by far-left activists last year.
He said French police had “identified a number of individuals who may have been responsible for the vandalism.”
“The attack was deliberate, very precise and extremely targeted,” he said, adding that it was a “classic tactic used by far-left forces”.
“The question is, were they manipulated or was it for their own gain?” he added.
Transport Minister Patrice Verglietteté said rail engineers worked around the clock to repair the damage, and all of France’s high-speed trains were finally running normally again by Monday morning.
Jean-François Monnier/AFP/Getty
The minister told RTL that the damage caused by the vandalism would “probably” run into millions of euros, including “commercial losses” and “repair costs”.
The attacks on three major TGV high-speed rail tracks in western, northern and eastern France involved the cutting and setting fire to fibre optic cables that run near the tracks and transmit safety information to drivers, such as signal lights and points.
