PARIS, July 29 — Dozens of people have been arrested in France for wanting to disrupt the Paris Olympics, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said today, German Press Agency reported.
Security forces arrested nearly 50 people, Darmanin told the France 2 television channel. They had wanted to carry out “sabotage actions or radical protests” during the first Olympic competitions, but authorities prevented this, he said.
Le Parisien newspaper reported 45 members of the radical environmental movement Extinction Rebellion were arrested. They had planned actions to protest against the social and ecological consequences of the Olympics.
Le Figaro newspaper reported an ultra-left-wing activist was arrested on Sunday in Oissel, about 121km northwest of Paris.
The man was arrested at a French national train (SNCF) location and had “access keys to SNCF technical premises” along with “wire cutters (and a) set of universal keys” in his vehicle along with literature linked to the ultra-left, the story said.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said this arrest was not connected to the investigation into arson attacks that disrupted traffic on Friday, hours ahead of the Olympic opening ceremonies, affecting hundreds of thousands of travellers. No arrests have been made yet in that incident, the office said.
Darmanin also told France 2 his office has a clearer picture of who might be behind those attacks.
“We have identified a number of profiles of individuals who may have carried out these very deliberate and highly targeted acts of sabotage,” he said.
— Bernama
