A despairing French government said multiple telecommunications links were hit by “cowardly” acts of vandalism early Monday morning, with fiber lines being taken out along with fixed and mobile phone infrastructure as cities around the country host events for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The immediate scale of the impact is unclear, as is whether it has affected any Olympic activities.
The vandalism came after left-wing arson attacks crippled train networks around France on Friday, hours before the Olympics opening ceremony, as Breitbart News reported.
Marina Ferrari, secretary of state in charge of digital affairs, posted on X that damage in several regions overnight Sunday to Monday affected telecommunications operators.
She said that led to localized impact on access to fiber lines and fixed and mobile telephone lines.
“Damages committed in several departments last night affected our telecommunications operators,” Ferrari noted. “They have localized consequences on access to fiber, fixed telephony and mobile telephony… I condemn in the strongest terms these cowardly and irresponsible acts. Thank you to the teams mobilized this morning to carry out repairs and restore damaged sites to service.”
AP reports the attacks are spread across the country:
A French police official said at least six of France’s administrative departments were affected, which include the region around the Mediterranean city of Marseille, hosting Olympic soccer and sailing competitions.
Telecom operators Bouygues and Free confirmed their services were affected. French media reports said lines operated by provider SFR also were hit. The parent company of Free said its teams are mobilized to restore services.
Meanwhile, as Breitbart News reported, hundreds of railway employees have worked back-to-back shifts to get France’s world-famous high speed rail lines out of Paris operating again, and the operator SNCF said they had achieved this by early Monday morning.
The body praised the “exceptional mobilisation” of their staff who “have worked tirelessly since Friday morning” to complete the repairs by today while the government blamed ultra-left anarchists for the damage.
