Travelers sit on stairs on the Gare de Montparnasse on the 2024 Summer Olympics on Friday in Paris. Hours away from the opening ceremony of the Olympics, high-speed rail site visitors to the French capital was severely disrupted on Friday following what officials described as “criminal actions” and sabotage.
Yasin Dar/AP
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Yasin Dar/AP
PARIS — Hours away from the grand opening ceremony of the Olympics, high-speed rail site visitors to the French capital was severely disrupted on Friday by what officials described as “criminal actions” and sabotage.
The incidents paralyzed a number of high-speed strains linking Paris to the remainder of France and to neighboring international locations, in response to Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete.
Speaking on BFM tv, Vergriete described folks fleeing from the scene of fires and the invention of incendiary units on the website. “Everything signifies that these are legal fires,” he stated.
As Paris authorities equipped for a parade alongside the Seine River amid tightened safety, three fires had been reported close to the tracks on the high-speed strains of Atlantique, Nord and Est. The disruptions significantly affected Paris’ main Montparnasse station. Videos posted on social networks confirmed the corridor of the station saturated with vacationers.
The Paris police prefecture “concentrated its personnel in Parisian train stations” after the “massive attack” that paralyzed the TGV high-speed community, Laurent Nuñez, the Paris police chief, advised France Info tv.
Travel to and from London beneath the English Channel, to neighboring Belgium, and throughout the west, north, and east of France was affected by what the French nationwide rail firm SNCF known as a sequence of coordinated in a single day incidents.
Government officials denounced the acts, although they stated there was no rapid signal of a direct hyperlink to the Olympics. National police stated authorities had been investigating the incidents. French media reported a significant hearth on a busy western route.
Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera stated authorities had been working to “evaluate the impact on travelers, athletes, and ensure the transport of all delegations to the competition sites” for the Olympics. Speaking on BFM tv, she added, “Playing against the Games is playing against France, against your own camp, against your country.” She didn’t determine who was behind the vandalism.
Passengers at St. Pancras station in London had been warned to anticipate delays of round an hour to their Eurostar journeys. Announcements within the departure corridor on the worldwide terminus knowledgeable vacationers heading to Paris that there was an issue with overhead energy provides.
The assault occurred towards a backdrop of worldwide tensions and heightened safety measures as town ready for the 2024 Olympic Games. Many vacationers had been planning to converge on the capital for the opening ceremony, and lots of vacationers had been additionally in transit.
SNCF stated it didn’t know when site visitors would resume and feared that disruptions would proceed “at least all weekend.” SNCF groups “were already on site to carry out diagnostics and begin repairs,” however the “situation should last at least all weekend while the repairs are carried out,” the operator stated. SNCF suggested “all passengers to postpone their journey and not to go to the station,” specifying in its press launch that every one tickets had been exchangeable and refundable.
Valerie Pecresse, president of the regional council of the better Paris area stated “250,000 travelers will be affected today on all these lines.” Substitution plans had been underway, however Pecresse suggested vacationers “not to go to stations.”
