French police arrest man for alleged railway vandalism

• An “ultra-left militant” was arrested in northwest France after suspicious behavior near a railway site.
• Police in Rouen are currently questioning the 28-year-old suspect.
• Fiber optic cables were cut in six locations across France from Sunday night into Monday, causing some isolated outages.

Police sources quoted by French media reported that officers arrested an “ultra-left militant” in north-west France on Sunday after observing his suspicious behavior near a railway site. Upon searching the man’s car, officers found keys to technical premises, pliers, a set of universal keys, and literature “linked to the ultra-left.” French media reported that police in the city of Rouen are currently questioning the 28-year-old suspect.

There is no indication that the man is linked to those responsible for Friday’s suspected coordinated arson attack on railway lines ahead of the Paris Olympic Games’ opening ceremony.

The acts of sabotage paralyzed high-speed TGV lines running to and from Paris and severely disrupted travel in France. On Monday morning, France’s Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, said that authorities had identified “several profiles of people who could have committed these very deliberate, very targeted acts of sabotage.”

He added that the methods used were “traditional” for the ultra-left and indicated there was “likely a political claim” behind the sabotage.

“The question is whether they were manipulated or is it for their own account,” Mr Darmanin said, adding that investigators were making good progress and would find those responsible.

Although he did not explicitly say the saboteurs had accomplices within France’s national rail operator SNCF, Mr. Darmanin noted that the locations of the arson attacks were “extremely specific.”

“It was extremely well targeted, it wasn’t done randomly, and it affected three major lines,” he added.

Mr. Darmanin also said that authorities arrested around 50 people ahead of the Olympics. These individuals, along with approximately 150 others, were believed to have planned either sabotage or radical protests in Paris during the initial events of the Olympic Games. In addition to the damage to the train lines, French media reported that fiber optic cables were cut in six locations across France from Sunday night into Monday, causing some isolated outages.

Authorities are still unclear whether there are any links between the vandalism of the telecom’s installations and the rail network sabotage last week, which affected an estimated 250,000 passengers on Friday and hundreds of thousands more over the weekend. No group has yet claimed responsibility for either incident. Last week, one security source suggested in French media that the arson attacks bore all the hallmarks of the extreme left.

Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete said on Monday that train services were back to normal after teams worked around the clock over the weekend to repair the damage. He added that authorities deployed “considerable means,” including drones and police helicopters, to strengthen the security of France’s thousands of kilometers of railway network. Mr. Vergriete also stated that the acts of sabotage likely cost several million euros.

Also Read

French Police Make 16 Arrests as Overnight Riots Ease

16 individuals detained in connection with urban violence in France overnight. Protests...