France plunged into further chaos as fibre optic network ‘sabotaged’ following arson attack last week

Fibre optic cables have been ‘sabotaged’ in Paris with reports of several internet operators being impacted.

Local media reports new major sabotage of long distance cables took place last night in France around 2.15 am.

The operator Netalis noted an attack on the cables in Montpellier, Marseille, between Paris and Lyon (impacting the East of France) and between Paris and Strasbourg.

The reports said that infrastructure in southern France, the Meuse region near Luxembourg and the Oise area near Paris had also been vandalised.

It comes as the French government is leaning towards the likelihood that far-left extremists were behind last week’s sabotage of the country’s SNCF rail network, which coincided with the Olympic Games opening ceremony, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.

Saboteurs struck France’s high-speed train network on Friday with pre-dawn attacks on signal substations and cables at critical points, causing travel chaos hours before the opening ceremony.

“We have identified the profiles of several people,” Darmanin told France 2 TV, regarding the hunt for those saboteurs.

He added that the saboteurs’ mode of operation bore the hallmarks of far-left extremists, without providing examples.

Interior Minister Darmanin said this morning far-left militant has been arrested regarding last week’s sabotage against the French rail network.

All trains were back up and running by Monday morning after teams worked around the clock over the weekend to fix the damage, Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete said on RTL radio.

Overall 800,000 people faced travel disruptions because of the attacks, including 100,000 people whose trains had to be cancelled outright, he said, adding the cost to the state-owned rail operator SNCF would be considerable.

Le Parisien reports that an investigation had already been opened after the fire at a telephone relay antenna near Toulouse in the early hours of last Friday. Detectives are examining a claim by an “ultra-left” anti-Olympic movement, without however excluding a possible accidental cause.

More to come…