French police arrest far-left activist over pre-Olympics rail sabotage as new incident hits phone lines

PARIS – French authorities have arrested an activist from a far-left movement at a site belonging to the national railway company SNCF, days after vandalism attacks paralyzed the network at the beginning of the year. Olympic GamesThe man was arrested in Oisel, northern France, on Sunday and had keys to SNCF art buildings and tools and literature linked to the far left, a police source said on Monday, asking not to be identified.

The man was taken into police custody for questioning in Rouen, the main city in France’s Normandy region.

Meanwhile, police said Monday that fiber optic networks of several telecom companies were “sabotaged” in six regions of France, but Paris was not affected. CBS News’ Elaine Cobbe said internet connections were affected, including some VoIP phone services, but not cell phone services.

The French public prosecutor announced later on Monday that an investigation had been opened into several attacks on communications facilities and that the investigation would be conducted jointly by anti-terrorism investigators and the national gendarmerie.

The statement from the prosecutor’s office did not say why anti-terrorism authorities were involved, but Kobe said the incidents were likely related to data breaches, which could be enough to include them in the investigation as they often investigate suspected cyberattacks.

Unidentified individuals attacked three railway facilities in different parts of France early Friday morning, causing days of chaos on the high-speed rail network as Paris hosts the 2024 Olympic Games.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told France 2 television that authorities were looking into the theory that far-left movements were behind the attacks, which closely resemble an attack on railway infrastructure carried out by far-left activists last year.

He added that the French services “identified a certain number of individuals who might commit” acts of sabotage.

“The attacks were very deliberate, very precise and very well-targeted,” he said, adding that this was “the classic style of far-left action.”

“The question is whether they were manipulated or whether it was for their benefit,” he added.

All high-speed trains in France were running normally again by Monday morning after rail engineers worked around the clock to repair damage, Transport Minister Patrice Vergret said.

The cost of the sabotage is “very likely” to run into millions of euros, including “commercial losses” and “repair costs”, the minister told RTL.

Fibre optic cables running close to the tracks that ensure the transmission of safety information to drivers, such as traffic lights and points, were cut and set on fire in attacks on three of the main high-speed TGV lines, in western, northern and eastern France.