Two French anarchist groups have claimed responsibility for a massive power cut that left more than 160,000 in Nice and the Cannes Film Festival in darkness over the weekend.
On Saturday, power was cut across the south of France for five hours on Saturday.
A day after the outage, which local officials said was caused by a suspected arson attack on a nearby substation and the vandalism of an electricity pylon, two self-proclaimed ‘bands of anarchists’ said they were behind the attacks
In an anonymous letter published on Sunday, the groups reportedly wrote that it was a deliberate attempt to cripple key infrastructure including research centres, start-ups, an aerospace factory, the local airport, and military and technological hubs.
Thousands of homes in the iconic French Riviera were left in darkness from around 10am on Saturday until the blackout was resolved at 4.30pm local time.
‘The aim of the action was not only to disrupt the festival, but also to deprive all industrial establishments of electricity.
‘We’re not on a film set, but ‘cut!’ seemed to sum up our desire to turn off this deadly system’, they added.
The suspected saboteurs wrote they targeted the region “on the eve of the Cannes Film Festival awards ceremony and gala evening” in what appeared to be a political statement, BFM TV reports.
Damien Savarzeix, the public prosecutor in Grasse, said over the weekend that three of the four pillars of a pylon carrying a power line in Villeneuve-Loubet ‘were sawn off’ in a ‘malicious act’.
Electrical engineers were forced to cut power for the region for several hours, leaving 160,000 without electricity.
A day later, a fire hit a nearby transformer in Nice, knocking out power for 45,000 homes.
Christian Estrosi, the mayor of Nice, wrote on X: ‘I vigorously condemn these criminal acts hitting our country. In the coming days, we are reinforcing the [security camera] network around the city’s strategic electric sites.’
Laurent Hottiaux, prefect of Alpes-Maritimes, added that he condemned ‘these serious acts of damage’ in ‘the strongest terms,’ the statement said.
