Any Olympics event, especially the opening ceremony, is always a security concern that must be taken seriously. But this year’s Summer Olympics is being held in Paris. And France has not exactly been safe from terror attacks over the last several years.

On Friday, the country suffered what is being called a “coordinated arson attack” on the high-speed rail lines that connect to Paris.

France’s high-speed rail network was hit Friday with widespread and “criminal” acts of vandalism including arson attacks, paralyzing travel to Paris from across the rest of France and Europe only hours before the grand opening ceremony of the Olympics.

French officials described the attacks as “criminal actions” and said they were investigating whether they were linked to the Olympic Games.

The disruptions as the world’s eye was turning to Paris were expected to affect a quarter of a million people alone on Friday and endure through the weekend, and possibly longer, officials said.

Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete described people fleeing from the scene of fires and the discovery of incendiary devices.

“Everything indicates that these are criminal fires,” he said.

The incidents paralyzed several high-speed lines linking Paris to the rest of France and to neighboring countries, Vergriete said, speaking on BFM television.

Government officials denounced the acts, though they said there was no immediate sign of a direct link to the Olympics.

Um, okay, you tell yourselves that, French officials. I kind of doubt that the attack happened on the day of the opening ceremony by complete coincidence.

This is bad.

Paris prosecutors launched investigations into the crimes, including property damage threatening the nation’s “fundamental interests,” that could carry 10- to 20-year prison sentences.

Jean-Pierre Farandou, CEO of French rail company SNCF, said the vandalism showed “a desire to seriously harm” the French and that their nature implied “a premeditated, calculated, coordinated attack.”

He said the fires were predominantly set in pipes containing critical signaling cables, requiring meticulous, cable-by-cable repair.

Also, I would like to point out the MASSIVE security failure surrounding the rail system. If it was this easy to start fires and plant “incendiary devices,” then just how easy would it be to plant, say, an IED and start blowing up trains during the Olympics? If the French authorities are not combing over every single inch of rail line at this very moment to make sure there are no more “surprises” planted along the lines, then they are guilty of a huge dereliction of duty. As a result of this sabotage, access in and out of Paris has now been completely screwed over. This also messes with tourists coming from Great Britain or the rest of continental Europe, as two of those major lines were targeted.

Arsonists attacked key train lines in France just as the Olympics are set to begin in Paris. The attacks will affect some 800,000 people over the next few days. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of military soldiers are assisting Paris police maintain safety due to the threat of… pic.twitter.com/kbvefHICq2

— Andy Ngo 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) July 26, 2024

But the fact that the rail lines were not checked and secured BEFORE this happened is a failure, and should give no one warm fuzzies about the level of security in Paris itself and around the Olympic Games in general.

Who else has a really bad feeling about all of this?

If you’re in Paris right now please stay extremely vigilant. #Olympics pic.twitter.com/XE0rpv0yLZ

— Eva Vlaardingerbroek (@EvaVlaar) July 26, 2024

As a result, some athletes will end up missing the opening ceremonies.

Two out of four trains carrying Olympic athletes to Paris on the western Atlantique high-speed line were stopped, an SNCF official said.

Two German athletes in showjumping — Philipp Weishaupt and Christian Kukuk — said they will miss the opening ceremonies because of lengthy delays, German news agency dpa reported.

“It’s a real shame, but we would have arrived too late,” Weishaupt said. “There was no longer a chance of making it on time.”

But there has already been problems with having the Olympics in Paris. France has had terror problems for years at this point, and day-to-day crime has been an issue for a long time. Our friend Beege at Hot Air points out that there has already been rapes, robberies, and the arrest of a Russian chef who was allegedly involved in a much larger plot.

Paris prosecutors said on Wednesday they had arrested a 40-year-old Russian man on Tuesday at his Paris apartment on suspicion of planning to “destabilise the Olympic Games”.

He was charged with “conducting intelligence work on behest of a foreign power” with an aim to “provoke hostilities in France,” crimes punishable with a 30-year sentence in France, according to a statement from the Paris prosecutor’s office.

During an official search of the suspect’s home in Paris, police agents found items that “raised fears of his intention to organise events likely to lead to destabilisation of the Olympic Games,” prosecutors said.

Le Monde reported the suspect, known as K, was part of several reality TV cooking shows and worked at Michelin star restaurants and an alpine ski resort.

The report also alleged, after having too much to drink and being refused to board a flight, the chef was overheard on a phone saying: “the French are going to have an opening ceremony like there has never been before.”

No one – except maybe Jill Biden, and even that is questionable given the current state of the Secret Service – should feel secure that everything is going to run smoothly at the Paris Games. There is every opportunity for something horrible to happen, and the arson attacks today just demonstrate that the bad guys only have to get it right ONCE for there to be a devastating result. That no one was injured today is amazing. The French need to step up their security game, because they might not get so lucky tomorrow, or the next day.

Featured image via Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license