French police arrest ultra-left activist for sabotage of railway ahead of Olympic Games; new incident involving telephone lines

Paris – French authorities have arrested an activist from an ultra-left movement on the premises of the national railway company SNCF, days after sabotage attacks brought the network to a standstill earlier this year. Olympic gamesa police source said on Monday. The man was arrested on Sunday in Oissel, northern France, and had access to keys to SNCF technical premises, tools and literature linked to the ultra-left, said the source, who wished to remain anonymous.

The man was taken into police custody for questioning in Rouen, the largest city in the French region of Normandy.

Meanwhile, in a new incident in six French regions, fiber optic networks of several telecommunications providers were “sabotaged.” However, Paris was not affected, police said. CBS News’ Elaine Cobbe said landlines, not mobile or data services, were affected in the country.

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

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told France 2 television that authorities were examining the theory that ultra-left movements were behind the attacks. The attacks were very similar to an attack by far-left activists on railway infrastructure last year.

The French services have “identified a certain number of profiles that may have committed the acts of sabotage,” he said.

He said the “attacks were deliberate, very precise and extremely targeted,” adding that this was “the traditional modus operandi of the ultra-left.”

“The question is whether they were manipulated or whether they did it on their own account,” he added.

Since Monday morning, all high-speed trains in France have finally been running normally again after railway engineers worked around the clock to repair the damage, said Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete.

The cost of the sabotage would “very likely” amount to several million euros, including “economic losses” and “repair costs,” the minister told RTL.

In the attacks on three of the main TGV high-speed lines in the west, north and east of France, fibre optic cables that run close to the tracks and ensure the transmission of safety information to train drivers, such as signal lights and switches, were severed and set on fire.