the relative caution of politicians

Some pointed the finger at the “ultra-left” after the revelation of acts of sabotage on the TGV lines on Friday. But the vast majority of the political class was content to express indignation without accusing anyone.

Could the “massive attack” against the SNCF be a symptom of anger that would not subside? On Friday, July 26, in any case, most political leaders remained on their guard. And yet, as early as 10 a.m., a few hours after the revelation of these sabotages, security sources were already mentioning the “ultra-left” lead because, these sources say, of the modus operandi, the attack on a transport network in such a coordinated manner.

On X, ex-Twitter, Marine Le Pen quickly bounced back by mentioning “common operating methods of the far-left movement”, even calling on the State to put an end to it “this leniency which encourages the hordes of wreckers.” Eric Ciotti, the leader of the Republicans allied with the RN in the last legislative elections, shared a press article headlined on this ultra-left track and demanded that the perpetrators be punished.

But at midday, Gabriel Attal, the Prime Minister, said stop, caution: let the investigation take place. And in the process, the vast majority of the political class was content to express indignation without accusing anyone. The communist Fabien Roussel, the environmentalist Cyrielle Chatelain, former Ministers of Transport, in the centre-right like Dominique Bussereau or in the former majority like Clément Beaune, for whom “It’s France that we’re attacking.”

Why this great caution? Some have doubtless thought back to the Tarnac affair in 2008: the sabotage of four TGV lines. The far left was immediately wrongly accused, and Julien Coupat and his friends were rounded up by 150 police officers in this village of Tarnac, in Corrèze, as if it were necessary, at the time, to have the results at the Central Directorate of Internal Intelligence (DCRI), the brand new large internal security service that had been created. After nine years of legal proceedings, in the end, there was a general acquittal.

In the post-dissolution context, with the left of the left perceived as a deterrent as powerful as the right of the right by a majority of public opinion, the urgency was clearly not to stigmatize anyone. Whether it was driven from within or from abroad, the railway workers we were able to speak to were, in any case, amazed by the professional work. Very well-informed people who acted at the right time so as not to cause any victims, that is to say just before the train that checks the tracks passed, but with maximum inconvenience. And in Mondovision.

Dominique Bussereau, former Minister of Transport, remembers the places of action: major roads that all lead to Paris. It would therefore be the Games that were targeted. As if this day of Olympic celebrations should not make us forget the anger expressed in the ballot boxes three times in one month, nor the 122 million euros spent on the opening ceremony, as breathtaking as it was. The Games cannot solve everything. This is what Tony Estanguet rather cleverly reminded us in his speech on Friday evening. He knows that an Olympic truce is never eternal.