A massive power outage in France on Saturday that hit the Cannes Film Festival is being investigated as possible arson.
The incident disrupted traffic and stopped activities for a period of time while approximately 160,000 homes in the Alpes-Maritimes department saw their electricity go out, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
The outlet said “a high-voltage line fell Saturday morning, electricity network operator RTE said on X,” the incident following a fire at an electrical substation near Cannes hours before.
The festival’s organizers said the outage affected activities in the early part of the day.
“All scheduled events and screenings, including the Closing Ceremony, will proceed as planned and under normal conditions. At this stage, the cause of the outage has not yet been identified. Restoration efforts are underway,” they explained in a statement.
Power was restored around 3:00 p.m. and law enforcement said they were looking into the incident as a possible arson attack, France 24 reported on Saturday.
Meanwhile, a Le Monde article on the incident gave more details regarding the sudden outage. The outlet (translated) reported:
During the night, a fire at a very high voltage electrical substation in Tanneron (Var) caused an initial power outage in the Var and Alpines-Maritimes. Then, at 10 a.m., an electricity pylon located in Villeneuve-Loubet (Alpes-Maritimes) suffered “major damage,” according to the prefect. Three of the four pillars of the pylon of the high-voltage line supplying Cannes “were sawed through,” Grasse prosecutor Damien Savarzeix told Agence France-Presse, referring to a “malicious act.”
In a social media post following the incident, Les Républicains leader Éric Ciotti said in a translated post the situation was “extremely serious.”
“A massive power outage is affecting the department. A pylon was sabotaged in Villeneuve-Loubet and a transformer caught in a fire: initial indications suggest a deliberate, even terrorist, attack. We need full transparency and quick answers. Ciotti wrote:
In January, Breitbart News’ Oliver JJ Lane reported on infrastructure sabotage, noting many people living in the West enjoy comfortable lives with food, heat in winter, and reliable power.
However, there is a “growing tide” of people who are launching attacks because of their political convictions.
“You may be surprised how often this happens, how often hard-left saboteurs and anarchist terrorists shut things down because they find electricity or the internet problematic or see them as an impediment to ‘the revolution’. Yes, really,” Lane wrote.
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