France’s train networks were targeted by “malicious” acts on Friday, just hours before the Olympic Opening Ceremony in Paris.
Authorities described the acts, which included arson, as “coordinated sabotage” to disrupt travel. The attacks appear to have targeted the country’s high-speed train network, known as the TGV. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
French state railways company SNCF said about 800,000 travelers would be affected. French sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera said the attacks would disrupt travel on Friday and over the weekend. She said that the Games organizers would “ensure the proper transport of all delegations to the competition sites.”
Oudéa-Castera condemned the attacks in the “strongest possible terms,” saying that “playing against the Games is playing against France, against your camp, against your country.”
Police in Paris are stepping up the already tight security following the attacks, the Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said.
