Arrestation à grande vitesse de chemin de fer en France non liée au sabotage des Jeux olympiques
France’s interior minister stated that the deliberate fires on Friday, which caused disruptions to railways, exhibited characteristics of far-left groups.
An individual who was arrested for suspicious behavior near a railway site is not connected to a suspected coordinated arson attack prior to the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, as confirmed by French authorities.
However, a spokesperson for the Paris Prosecutor’s Office, which is leading the investigation into the attacks, clarified via email to The Epoch Times on Tuesday that there is no connection between this recent arrest and the vandalism and arson on the TGV rail network.
“There have been no arrests in the National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organized Crime’s investigation into the sabotage of the SNCF,” the spokesperson stated.
Last week, the Paris Prosecutor’s Office informed The Epoch Times via email that some of the offenses carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to 300,000 euros ($330,000).
The charges include damaging property of national importance, attempted damage by dangerous means in a coordinated group, and attacks on automated data systems.
“The testing phases have been successful, and the lines are now back to normal operation,” it noted.
As of Monday, SNCF declared that there would be no further disruptions.
‘Cowardly, Irresponsible Acts’
France’s Junior Minister for Digital Matters, Marina Ferrari, shared in a post on the social media platform X on July 29 that telecom networks experienced isolated outages following acts of vandalism overnight.
“Damages caused in various departments last night impacted our telecommunications operators,” Ms. Ferrari mentioned, highlighting that the attacks resulted in “localized effects on fiber access, fixed telephony, and mobile telephony.”
“Under my supervision, the defense electronic communications service is collaborating with operators until communications and services are fully restored,” she affirmed. “I strongly condemn these cowardly and irresponsible acts.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the Rouen Prosecutor’s Office and the Interior Minister for their comments.
Reuters contributed to this report.