BRITISH Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been hit by the sabotage of France’s high-speed rail network ahead of the opening of the 2024 Olympics.
Starmer changed his travel plans to attend the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics, attended by heads of state, on Friday (26/7), after the French Eurostar high-speed train was disrupted by a sabotage attack on the rail network.
A Downing Street spokesman said Starmer was due to travel on the cross-Channel train service from London to Paris for the Olympic opening ceremony, on his first visit to France since being elected earlier this month.
Starmer ended up flying due to delays and cancellations of French high-speed trains.
France welcomed dozens of heads of state and government as well as royals to the opening ceremony of the Olympics, which will begin with a parade of athletes down the Seine River by boat.
Just hours before the opening ceremony, the perpetrator, who is still being hunted by security forces, set fire to installations along the TGV line that connects Paris to the west, north and east of the country.
The arson attack plunged France’s high-speed rail network into chaos, affecting tens of thousands of passengers.
“Everything leads us to believe that this was a criminal act,” Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete told reporters. “The timing was coordinated, the van was found where the arsonist fled.” (BBC/Theguardian/P-5)
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