Arson Causes Major Delays in France Ahead of Olympics Opening Ceremony

Major delays and cancelations have been caused by arson in France, creating chaos ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.

Jul 26, 2024; Paris, FRANCE; Flags hang between buildings ahead of the Opening Ceremony for the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games. / Grace Hollars-USA TODAY Sports

July 26th marks the start of the 2024 Olympic Summer Games in Paris, France with the Opening Ceremony. Unfortunately, the opening ceremony won’t be attended by some people who had planned on being there because of arson attacks.

Four main high-speed train lines exist in France, but three of them were crippled Friday morning, hours before the festivities were supposed to start. That has led to chaos for anyone traveling.

These outages will impact more than one million people this weekend. NBC News shared an update that revealed more than 250,000 people were impacted on Friday, with at least 800,000 more people expected to be affected over the weekend.

The coordinated attack involved fiber optic cables in the three locations to be set ablaze. That led to cables that help keep things in order for the railroad to function properly go haywire.

Arras, Pagny sur Moselle and Courtalain were the three areas hit. LGV Sud-Est line was also targeted, but another “malicious act was foiled” there. That line connects Paris and Lyon.

In one bit of good news, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin shared that there have been no direct threats made to the Opening Ceremony. The Olympics themselves were not impacted, but anyone traveling by train who was hoping to take part in some capacity has had their plans ruined for now.

Extreme measures have been taken to ensure that the opening ceremonies go off without issue. As shared by NBC News, security is at an all-time high, with forces all over the River Seine, where the unique ceremony will take place.

“An unprecedented security operation has been put in place for the opening ceremony, including about 45,000 police officers across Paris and 10,000 military personnel in the Île-de-France region, the latter of which is the biggest deployment in the country since World War II and the biggest ever in peacetime.

On the River Seine, SWAT officers will travel on boats with the athletes, navy divers will inspect the hulls of vessels for explosives and sonar will be used to detect underwater intruders, with nets at locations on the river that act as entry barriers. The banks and bridges of the river are on lockdown and buildings and basements along the ceremony route have been searched.”

Investigations into the matter remain ongoing. Whoever is found guilty of these attacks will face harsh penalties, according to a post shared by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on X, formerly Twitter.