Before dawn on the day of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, arsonists on Friday sabotaged three critical high-speed rail lines, stranding thousands of travelers, heightening security fears and blighting what President Emmanuel Macron hoped to be a moment of national glory.
Around 4 a.m., the arsonists cut through and burned cables used for signaling and security near three rail divides, the French authorities said. The carefully placed strikes snarled end-of-week travel plans for more than a million people, including Parisians leaving for vacation and international travelers en route to the opening ceremony of the Games. Parts of the prized rail system came to a standstill.