France High-Speed Rail Traffic Disrupted by 'Malicious Acts' on Olympic Ceremony
On July 26, 2024, France's high-speed rail network experienced major disruptions due to arson attacks, affecting 800,000 passengers and leading to train cancellations ahead of the Paris Olympics.
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On July 26, 2024, France's high-speed rail network faced significant disruptions due to "malicious acts," including arson attacks, just hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. The national train operator, SNCF, reported that these coordinated attacks targeted multiple lines, affecting approximately 800,000 passengers. The disruptions led to the cancellation of many train services, particularly on the Atlantic, northern, and eastern lines, while the southeastern line was spared from damage due to a foiled act. SNCF announced that no trains would operate from Paris' Gare Montparnasse station until 1 PM, with delays exceeding two hours reported. Passengers were advised to postpone travel and stay away from train stations, with all affected customers promised a full refund on their tickets. Eurostar services between Paris and London were also impacted, with cancellations and extended travel times. Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete condemned the attacks as "outrageous criminal acts," warning of severe consequences for rail traffic throughout the weekend. Normal operations are expected to resume by July 29. The incidents occurred as the city prepared for the arrival of 7,500 athletes and 300,000 spectators for the Olympic Games, highlighting the potential vulnerabilities in security and transport infrastructure during such high-profile events.
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- Many commenters speculate about the involvement of foreign actors, particularly Russia, in the sabotage, drawing parallels to previous attacks in Germany and Italy.
- There is a sense of fear regarding the vulnerability of national infrastructure to such attacks, with discussions on the implications for public safety and security.
- Some comments express skepticism about the government's ability to protect citizens and manage the situation effectively, citing past incidents of surveillance and repression.
- Several users highlight the impact of the disruptions on the upcoming Paris Olympics, emphasizing the seriousness of the situation for athletes and the city.
- The discourse includes a mix of conspiracy theories and political commentary, with some blaming left-wing activists without evidence and others criticizing the government's response.
31 comments[1] https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240726-sabotage-on-f...
We can be glad we have cars, trucks and roads that are a bit more resistant to attacks.
https://theins.press/en/politics/273350
> On May 7, he was in Russia and due to fly from Moscow to Istanbul, where he’d catch a connecting flight back to Paris the next day. Except he couldn't. He got so fall-down drunk at Istanbul Airport that he was barred from boarding his plane. Instead Griaznov took a taxi to the Bulgarian border, where another car delivered him to St. Vlas, a resort town on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, where Griaznov owns property.
> Griaznov stayed at his apartment for a few days before moving on to Varna, a Bulgarian city 60 miles north of St. Vlas. From there he flew on to Paris. During one of his beach-side dinners he got drunk again and let slip to the neighbors that he had a special assignment this summer in Paris to disrupt the opening ceremony of the Olympics. At first the neighbors were incredulous. That’s when Griaznov brandished his FSB ID, witnesses told The Insider. A few days later, Griaznov made his way to Varna and took a flight from there. Before flying to Paris, Griaznov made a call to his FSB boss and informed him that the operation was on track. Griaznov even said he’d recruited “one more Moldovan from Chisinau.”
It would be humorous if it weren't so serious.
Apparently they did not catch all the arson teams.
https://theins.press/en/politics/273350
> On May 7, he was in Russia and due to fly from Moscow to Istanbul, where he’d catch a connecting flight back to Paris the next day. Except he couldn't. He got so fall-down drunk at Istanbul Airport that he was barred from boarding his plane. Instead Griaznov took a taxi to the Bulgarian border, where another car delivered him to St. Vlas, a resort town on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, where Griaznov owns property.
> Griaznov stayed at his apartment for a few days before moving on to Varna, a Bulgarian city 60 miles north of St. Vlas. From there he flew on to Paris. During one of his beach-side dinners he got drunk again and let slip to the neighbors that he had a special assignment this summer in Paris to disrupt the opening ceremony of the Olympics. At first the neighbors were incredulous. That’s when Griaznov brandished his FSB ID, witnesses told The Insider. A few days later, Griaznov made his way to Varna and took a flight from there. Before flying to Paris, Griaznov made a call to his FSB boss and informed him that the operation was on track. Griaznov even said he’d recruited “one more Moldovan from Chisinau.”
It would be humorous if it weren't so serious.
Just wondering: is there a reason why there needs to be a bundle of fiber optic cables to carry safety information and control the rails? Is that not overkill? I assume wireless/cellular networking is not robust enough, but what just standard-ass copper wires, like the telephone lines? I assume the reason is that they're transmitting more than just what was named in the article, but all I know is what I read.
Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete called the “massive attack” against the rail network an “outrageous criminal act”. He described people fleeing from the scene of fires and the discovery of incendiary devices at the sites.
SNCF said many routes would have to be cancelled “at least all weekend while repairs are conducted” as thousands of rail staff were deployed to repair the damage.
If this were the US and NatSec were on the table, we could expect some overstatement of harm done and risk to the public.
IDK France tho. Do French officials favor agenda or accuracy?
On the other hand I don't think too much nationalism is good for a country, but at what point do people start appreciating what they have and start contributing at how France look for outsiders? I really wish we were more welcoming people as a whole, and less self-sabotaging.
This is low effort. The real problem with a dictatorship is that people rise through loyalty rather than competence. The people are too afraid to call attention to the situation. You get childish actions like this as a result.
- cui prodest/cui bono? So far the government witch it VERY hated by Parisian at least due to their zoning and confinement of people "for safety reasons", reasons who appear justified if someone commit crimes, the same plot observed with recent "terrorist attacks" of Charlie Hebdo, Nice etc all with a sole general effect: justify surveillance and repressive power. No one else have earned anything else good for them;
- you can surveil a city, many people in a dense area, full of surveillance. You can't surveil a whole country, so you can easily surveil, contain people rioting or some attacks in a city, you can't protect a long rail line across a country. No matter how much surveillance you have, even if you are so powerful to deploy cam on every place of the rails in the middle of nowhere you can just watch some masked biped attacking your infra, say hi! to the cam and disappear before even a drone jet can came;
- you can't protect the society against the society, or people agree to be civil and cooperative or there is no "third party force" who can keep the order and prevent a civil war. You can protect the most against very few, nothing more, actually this means that essentially ALL government can't do nothing positive because they have essentially no popular legitimization enough to be consider "the people government system". If they try to tighten the lace a civil war will happen. If they do not any kind of anti-social activity will happen anyway, because the society is actually fractured.
There are not to many details, but the dynamic seems exactly the same.
Traditional media is doing EU citizens a disservice. This is state sponsored terrorism and we need to start calling a spade a spade.
It's also pretty clearly Russia's style. Islamic terrorists would have targeted people, not random infrastructure, and Russian operatives have already been caught trying such things, or after having done such things all over Europe.
I'd be very interested to see how France responds. Nuking Moscow would of course be too much, but this sort of escalation cannot be left unchecked because as we've well seen, Putin is a fucking idiot who needs to get his head kicked in or he'll just keep pushing. More Mirages for Ukraine? This list getting longer? https://www.defense.gouv.fr/en/news/french-military-equipmen... A ban on anyone receiving Russian money from French politics (bye bye Le Pen and other Quislings)?
A couple of reports (grain of salt needed):
An FSB operative caught bragging about sabotaging the Olympics in Bulgaria: https://x.com/michaeldweiss/status/1816431778615226742
Russian arrested in Paris over sabotage plot: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd1j7kg2nk0o
A bunch of FSB operatives caught in Ukraine: https://global.espreso.tv/russia-ukraine-war-fsb-agents-plan...
Previous reporting from Bellingcat on Russian operations: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2021/04/26/how...
https://www.lefigaro.fr/faits-divers/sabotage-sur-le-reseau-...
» More than 45,000 police officers, 10,000 soldiers and 2,000 private security agents are being deployed
Here it is written, games are for athletes, not for people who live in Paris. City of a few million people grinds to a halt, for several weeks.
Paris does not even get any money for this "privilige", they have to pay for their own abuse!
I lost hope personally, 2 days ago i got flagged for suggesting putting to jail people who didn't work to fix the Github security flaw, what ever..
It's unfair only opponents of Putin accidentally fall out of their apartment windows.
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