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Sarkozy Vows To Punish Rail Saboteurs
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy says that those responsible for the sabotage of the nation's high speed rail network would be "severely punished."
Last night, what authorities are calling "a concerted campaign of sabotage" brought the famous TGV railway to a halt. A series of deliberately-started fires damaged power supplies to signals: The most damaging attack was on the TGV-Atlantique branch, where 30km of track were damaged.
France's national railway company, the SNCF, blames the sabotage on union hardliners who are seeking to halt talks aimed at ending the current transport strike.
Leaders of France's eight main railway unions condemned the sabotage. Bernard Thibault, who heads the power CGT, said that the sabotage was "unacceptable" and carried out by "cowards." Three other large unions said that the attacks "went against the values" of the trade unions.
The Secretary of Sud-Rail, the most uncompromising of the eight main unions, whose members are still holding out on strike in the hope of "bringing down the capitalist system" also condemned the sabotage. However he also attacked the management of the SNCF for "dramatising the strike" with reports of the sabotage. He claims that his members were not behind the attacks, arguing that tampering with safety goes beyond the pale for railway workers.
Police stationed in Châteaudun, nearby one of the attacks, say they're keeping an open mind as to who is responsible.
It's highly unlikely that the sabotage was sanctioned by the leadership of the unions, but France's unions have previous in halting electricity supplies. In 2004, striking electricity workers cut power to the home of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. Though then, the masked saboteurs acted in full view of the invited media: Last night's attacks were concerted, but took place in the dead of night.
Earlier this month, commentators aired concerns that far-left students might try to block railway stations. It is hard to imagine France's students having the wherewithal to sabotage the nation's main rail lines.
If anything, this sounds like the birth of a conspiracy theory. Are students capable of targeting the weak points in a railway line to hit with fires? No - most French students have difficulty finding the "on" switch on a washing machine. Would hardline union workers risk the safety of passengers and their comrades? Probably not. Would the wicked SNCF or the dastardly Sarkozy government sabotage their own lines in order to damage the (already unpopular) strikers' case even further? Watch this one: Coming to a hard-left discussion board near you!
