Before the Paris Olympics opened on Friday, vandals launched a concerted campaign against France’s high-speed train network, severely disrupting several of the nation’s busiest rail lines.
Tens of thousands of troops and police were part of a vast security operation to protect the international sporting spectacle from any threat, but this interruption nevertheless happened.
According to the railway operator, facilities along the routes that link Paris with places like Lille in the north, Bordeaux in the west, and Strasbourg in the east have been targeted by arsonists.
It advised all travelers to put off their travel plans. Although repairs were in progress, there will be significant traffic disruptions until the end of the weekend. Trains were being returned to their original locations.”Several instances of vandalism on the Atlantic, Northern, and Eastern high-speed lines occurred last night, affecting the SNCF. In order to harm our installations, fires were started on purpose, according to a statement from the SNCF.
A sense of unease will grow before the opening ceremony of the Olympics in the center of Paris later on Friday, as a result of the coordinated strikes on the rail system.
To secure the event, France is deploying around 45,000 police, 10,000 troops, and 2,000 private security agents in an unprecedented peacetime security operation. Drones will be hovering overhead, and sharpshooters will be stationed on rooftops.
