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Telecom networks sabotaged across France

Network Sabotage

The fiber optic networks of several telecommunications operators were sabotaged in six areas of France, police said. The capital, Paris, was not affected.

Installations belonging to French telecom companies SFR and Bouygues Telecom were vandalized, according to the French newspaper Le Parisien and BFM TV.

The cables were cut in southern France, with installations near Luxembourg and Paris also targeted. Internet outage watchdog Netblocks reported disruptions to multiple internet providers across France. French Secretary of State for Digital Affairs Marina Ferrari confirmed the acts of vandalism, which occurred on Sunday night.

Ferrari stated that the Defense Electronic Communications Center was working with the operators to restore communications and services as quickly as possible. “I condemn these cowardly and irresponsible acts in the strongest possible terms,” Ferrari said on X, formerly known as Twitter. France’s telecom regulator ARCEP reported that the acts of vandalism have affected around 11,000 clients, mainly those of SFR and Free.

Investigations into the incident are underway. This incident comes after saboteurs targeted France’s high-speed rail network last Friday. An “ultra-left militant” was arrested in north-west France on Sunday after being found behaving suspiciously near a railway site, according to police sources quoted by French media.

Officers who searched the man’s car found keys to technical premises, pliers, a set of universal keys, and literature “linked to the ultra-left.”

The 28-year-old suspect is currently being questioned by police in the city of Rouen. The arrest comes after a series of arson attacks on railway lines paralyzed high-speed TGV lines running to and from Paris and heavily disrupted travel across France. On Monday morning, France’s Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, said that a “number of profiles of people who could have committed these very deliberate, very targeted acts of sabotage” had been identified.

He added that the methods employed were “traditional” of the ultra-left and said 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 stopped short of saying the saboteurs had accomplices within France’s national rail operator SNCF, Mr. Darmanin noted the locations of the arson attacks were “extremely specific.”

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

Telecom networks targeted across France

Darmanin also said that around 50 people were arrested ahead of the Olympics who, alongside others – thought to number around 150 – had “wanted to carry out either sabotage or radical protests in Paris during the first events of the Olympic Games.”

Alongside the damage to the train lines, French media also reported that fiber optic cables were found cut in six locations across France overnight Sunday into Monday, causing some isolated outages. It is still unclear at this stage whether there are any links between the vandalism on the telecoms installations and the sabotage on the rail network 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. One security source suggested in French media last week that the arson attacks bore all the hallmarks of the extreme left. Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete said on Monday that train services were back up and running as normal after teams worked around the clock over the weekend to fix the damage.

He added that “considerable means,” including drones and police helicopters, were deployed to strengthen the security of the thousands of kilometers that make up France’s railway network. Mr. Vergriete also said that the acts of sabotage will likely have cost several million euros. This incident has amplified concerns as France braces for the upcoming Paris Olympic Games, prompting tighter security and vigilance across critical infrastructure.

Paris Olympics organizers have issued an apology to those who took offense to a tableau during Friday’s opening ceremony, which some critics claimed evoked Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.” However, the organizers defend the concept, stating that it did not aim to depict the iconic painting. The controversy arose from a performance on the Debilly Bridge featuring DJ and producer Barbara Butch, an LGBTQ+ icon known for her advocacy of love and inclusion. Butch, adorned in a silver headdress resembling a halo, led the festivities alongside drag artists and dancers.

The contentious scene was, in fact, inspired by “The Feast of the Gods,” a 17th century painting by Dutch artist Jan Harmensz van Biljert, depicting Greek gods celebrating on Mount Olympus. The figure at the center of the table in the painting has a halo, a detail some mistook for a reference to “The Last Supper.”

Thomas Jolly, the ceremony’s artistic director, insisted in an interview with France’s BFMTV that the inspiration behind the scene was entirely rooted in Greek mythology. “Dionysus arrives at the table because he is the Greek God of celebration,” Jolly explained, adding that the sequence was simply titled “Festivity.”

Despite these clarifications, religious conservatives worldwide expressed dismay.

The French Catholic Church’s conference of bishops accused the segment of mocking Christianity, a sentiment echoed by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova and the Anglican Communion in Egypt. French far-right politician Marion Maréchal and other international conservatives also criticized the performance on social media, contending it insulted Christian values. In Romania, social media influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan staged a protest against the Olympics near the French embassy in Bucharest.

The Tate brothers urged athletes to boycott the Games in response to the perceived mockery of Christianity. Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps addressed the backlash during an International Olympic Committee news conference, asserting that there was no intention to disrespect any religious group. “On the contrary, we aimed to celebrate community tolerance,” Descamps stated.

“If people have taken any offense, we are sincerely sorry.”

Jolly reiterated to The Associated Press that his intentions were to celebrate diversity and French gastronomy, not to provoke or divide. “I wanted to send a message of love and inclusion,” Jolly said.

Adam Campbell

The IT mastermind with a passion for data and a flair for blogging brilliance. When he's not conquering tech conundrums as an IT manager, you'll find him surfing the waves of big data, decoding the secrets of technology, and serving up witty insights with a side of code humor on his blog.
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