The cities of Cannes and Nice on the French Riviera were targeted by a sabotage act against the electrical grid over the weekend of May 24th and 25th. Responsibility for the attacks has since been claimed in a statement by anarchist groups, who say they wanted to “cut off the power to what is destroying us.”
Since Friday 23rd, three attacks have been carried out against electrical installations in the Var and Alpes-Maritimes departments on the French Riviera. Electrical substations and transformers were set on fire and pylons were sawn through: the targeted damage left hundreds of thousands of homes without electricity. 160,000 homes were affected in Cannes and 45,000 around Nice.
The target was the Cannes International Film Festival, accused in the statement of serving as “a showcase for a grandiloquent French Republic, defender of the values of progress on the international stage, but above all the world’s second largest arms exporter.” Also targeted were leading industrial groups based in the Cannes and Nice areas—companies accused of sowing death by enabling preparations for war. The aim was “to deprive Thales Alenia Space’s research centres and factories, its dozens of subcontractors, the French Tech start-ups that imagine themselves to be safe, the airport and all other industrial, military and technological establishments in the area”, the saboteurs said.
The investigation has not yet been able to determine who was directly responsible for the power cuts or who was behind the statement, but the police are taking the case “seriously.” The statement was posted on an ‘alternative’ website, Indy Media, which has hosted other claims of sabotage in the past. The site is linked to the far-left milieu in the city of Nantes, a very active breeding ground for environmental and anarchist activists mobilised around a planned airport in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, which has been fuelling extremist mobilisations for years.
In Cannes, the activists’ primary objective—to disrupt the festival—was not achieved, as the well-protected Palais des Festivals continued to be powered by generators that took over when the power was cut. Instead, it was the residents of the Cannes metropolitan area and public services that bore the brunt of this stunt by the far Left. Transport was temporarily disrupted and hospitals experienced operational disruptions.
Following the incident, surveillance of electrical installations has been stepped up at the request of the minister of the interior.
There is a paradox in the actions of those responsible for the sabotage, who targeted a cultural event, the Cannes Film Festival, which only a few days ago showed every sign of submission to the struggles of the far Left—from support for Hamas to the climate fight.
