French Anarchists Charged With Rail Sabotage

[Mesteryo]

Source: Time

French authorities on Tuesday nabbed a group of anarchists suspected of having sabotaged the nation's high-speed rail system over the last several weeks. The arrests aim not only to put an end to the spate of vandalism that had wreaked havoc and panic among French travelers for the past two weeks; they may also derail any violent plans French anarchists might have been preparing with like-minded extremists with whom authorities say they were in contact in Germany, Belgium, and the U.K.


The police raids took place early Tuesday morning in Paris and in four other sites in France. A total of 20 people were arrested, and by mid-day 10 of those had been officially placed under investigation for participating in the spree of potentially deadly sabotage. In most of those incidents, hooked metal bars had been attached to high-voltage electricity lines that power high-speed trains; when the bars were snagged by passing locomotives, they plowed a path of destruction through high-voltage power lines.


A total of six incidents of sabotage were recorded since Oct. 26, including a coordinated operation Nov. 8 that targeted four different rail lines in northern France and caused delays of nearly 160 high-speed TGV trains — including Eurostar service to London — leaving thousands of passengers stranded.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1858191,00.html

[onehandle]

1. Oh, fun. I was on the Eurostar recently.

Four days after the Chunnel fire. That thing was fast.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

2. This is serious

I've taken the TGV and sabotaging anything that moves that fast would kill a lot of innocent people. Lock the fuckers up.