France's telecommunication lines vandalised amid Paris Olympics 2024
This act of vandalism came after arson attacks hit train networks in France on Friday, few hours before the Olympics opening ceremony.
The French government on Monday said that multiple telecommunication lines have been vandalised in cities hosting events for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The government has said that attacks have affected fibre lines, and fixed and mobile phone lines across cities as well.
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The scale of the impact of this act is unclear, reported news agency AP to identify whether it has affected any Olympic activities. Marina Ferrari, secretary of state in charge of digital affairs, posted on X that damage in several regions overnight from Sunday to Monday affected telecommunication operators . She wrote in the post, “Damages committed in several departments last night affected our telecommunications operators. They have localised consequences on access to fibre, fixed and mobile telephones.”
At least six administrative departments in France were affected, including the region surrounding Marseille, confirmed a French police official reported TOI.
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Ferari added, “Under my supervision, the Center for Defense Electronic Communications cooperates with operators until communications and services are fully restored. I condemn in the strongest terms these cowardly and irresponsible acts. Thank you to the teams mobilised this morning to carry out repairs and restore damaged sites to service.”
This act of vandalism came after arson attacks hit train networks in France on Friday, a few hours before the Olympics opening ceremony. Around 800,000 people across Europe including athletes heading to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games were affected by this attack on France’s high-speed rail network.
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The fires were set in pipes containing signaling cables for the railway network. The coordinated attacks apparently aimed to cut off rail routes into the city from all directions. French authorities did not publicly comment on who might have carried out the attacks or why; none of them said the sabotage was directly related to the Games, reported AP.
Security has been beefed up along the 28,000-kilometre with the deployment of 50 drones, 250 rail security agents, and 1,000 maintenance workers, reported TOI.
On Monday, Sky News reported that an ultra-left militant was arrested over this incident which paralysed various parts of the French rail network prior to the Olympic games opening ceremony.
(with inputs from news agencies)
