France will increase its surveillance of all critical infrastructure after saboteurs wrecked two electricity sub-stations in Nice and Cannes last weekend.
The arsonists deprived nearly 200,000 homes on the Cote d’Azur of electricity, disrupted traffic lights, interrupted the Cannes film festival, shut down cash distributors and brought Nice airport to a temporary standstill.
Addressing parliament on Tuesday, Prime Minister Francois Bayrou declared that the attacks are ‘an extremely serious threat to public order, designed to impress and terrify those who organise such events.’
An extreme-left group claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement published on the internet. The sabotage was ‘aimed not only at disrupting the [Cannes] festival, but also… Tech start-ups who imagine themselves sheltered, the airport and all the other industrial, military and technological establishments in the area of power.’
As to their motivation, this was attributed to the ‘situation in Gaza, the war in Ukraine, the Sahel, but also the migration issue, ecology.
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