LIVE. Attack on SNCF: lead, claim… Where is the investigation at ?

“DIRECT. Attack against the SNCF: track, claim… Where? is the investigation?”

Several avenues are being explored to try to explain the sabotage of SNCF train lines. The arrest of 45 members of Extinction Rebellion announced by Gérald Darmanin resulted in the release of 44 of them.

The essentials

• Several SNCF lines were sabotaged on the night of Thursday 25 to Friday, July 26, blocking traffic on many roads.
• The action was claimed with an email sent to several media outlets on Saturday. The anonymous author claims to have wanted to impact the Olympic Games.
• Investigators remain cautious about the email lead:  "The tone of the email, its form, the gap between the facts and the day it was sent raises questions for us," notes a source close to the case to 20 Minutes.
• Three main leads are currently attracting the attention of investigators: an attack sponsored by a far-left movement, foreign interference and finally, the participation of internal members of the the SNCF.
• This Tuesday, environmentalist Marine Tondelier castigated Gérald Darmanin's assessment of the arrest of 45 members of Extinction Rebellion after the sabotage of high-speed lines: “44 were released without any follow-up. Some spent eleven hours in police custody for putting up a sticker on the metro. The Olympics are not fun,” she declared. on France 2.

Live

12:11 – Foreign interference ? "Too early to tell" according to Darmanin

This Monday, on France 2, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin raised the possibility of foreign involvement: “Who is responsible ? Either it is from within, or it was ordered from abroad, it is too early to say. A year ago, a 40-year-old Russian national was arrested and placed in pretrial detention, suspected of of wanting to “destabilize” the Paris Olympics. This is why the theory of foreign interference, particularly from Moscow, is one of the options for the French government. For its part, Russia denies everything. For the Kremlin spokesman, this is “false information” aimed at ” “to blame Russia for everything that is happening”.

11:56 – The ultra-left track is not édiscardedé

On Saturday, Gérald Darmanin mentioned the far-left lead. “A certain number of elements collected should allow us to know fairly quickly who is responsible (…) This is the traditional mode of action of the far-left,” he also declared on Monday. “The question is whether they were manipulated or is it for their own benefit.” questions the top cop in France on France 2.

11:42 – An internal complicity at the SNCF ?

Several elements suggest that the sabotage may have benefited from internal complicity within the SNCF. In particular, the coordinated nature of the attack and the detailed knowledge of the network. Gabriel Attal referred to the self as “a form of knowledge to know where to strike”. Yesterday, the resigning Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin spoke of a “well-targeted” act, “it was not done at random”. For the SNCF, the question is much less clear-cut. “You only have to look at a map of France's network and you see where the connection points are between the high-speed line junctions” can be read in the columns of Ouest France. 

11:25 – Marine Tondelier castigates Gérald Darmanin after the arrest of environmental activists

This Tuesday, environmentalist Marine Tondelier castigated Gérald Darmanin's record on the arrest of 45 members of Extinction Rebellion after the sabotage of high-speed lines: “44 were released without any follow-up. Some spent eleven hours in police custody for putting up a sticker on the metro. The Olympics are not fun,” she declared. on France 2. “With his obsession with a few harmless environmental activists, Gérald Darmanin often misses his target" she continues. 

Learn more

The SNCF network was the victim of three acts of sabotage on its TGV network during the night of Thursday 25 to Friday 26 July. In a press release, the railway company informed that “deliberate fires [had] been started to damage [their] installations”. The TGV Atlantique, Est and Nord lines were affected, which led to delays and cancellations for trains to or from the Montparnasse, Nord and Est stations. A “ malicious act” was foiled for the South-East network.

The public prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into “damage to property likely to harm the fundamental interests of the nation”, “damage and attempted damage by dangerous means in an organized gang”, “attacks on an automated processing system” of data in an organized gang”, and “criminal association with a view to committing these crimes and offences”.

An anonymous email claiming responsibility for the attack in the name of a desire to sabotage the Olympic Games was sent to several media outlets on Saturday, July 27. The rhetoric of the text is reminiscent of that of the ultra-left movement. Investigators are studying this lead but question the authenticity of this claim. The possibility of foreign interference is also being considered. Finally, the precision of the sabotage suggests internal participation within the SNCF.