Act of sabotage during Cannes Film Festival, claimed by anarchist groups

A statement signed by alleged "two gangs of anarchists" was published on a website affiliated with the far-left movement, Indymedia, claiming an act of sabotage on the electrical infrastructure in the Var and Alpes-Maritimes regions. The main target: disrupting the Cannes Film Festival and affecting the industrial and technological centers in the area.

• Electrical installations deliberately sabotaged

The perpetrators claim to have set fire to an electrical substation and damaged a high-voltage pylon that supplies the urban agglomeration of Cannes, as well as the surrounding infrastructure - including research centers, factories such as Thales Alenia Space, French Tech companies, airports and other strategic units. The statement begins with the cinematic phrase "And... Cut!", as a symbolic gesture of breaking the thread of social, cultural and industrial convention represented, in their view, by the festival and by French industry.

• Ideological attack on industry and the state

The text contains a succession of accusations against the French Republic and the film industry, accused of complicity in violence and arms exports. "French excellence in this field arms NATO and sows death, from Yemen to Gaza, from Ukraine to the Sahel," the authors state. In addition, they criticize cinema for promoting a "culture of rape" and for distracting attention from real world problems, such as pollution, militarization and technological superstructure. They launch calls for sabotage against a large number of targets - from motorways and TGV lines to prison pylons and photovoltaic cables.

• Real effects: the city affected, but not the festival

Although the Cannes Film Festival was not affected - thanks to backup generators that provided electricity to the Palais des Festivals - the impact on the local community was significant. The power outage on Saturday affected around 160,000 homes in the western Alpes-Maritimes region, especially in the city of Cannes. Public transport, trains and essential services such as hospitals and crematoriums were severely disrupted.

• Investigation underway, possible links to other acts of vandalism

The authors of the statement describe themselves as "anarchists", but only the official investigation will be able to confirm whether they really belong to this ideology. Indymedia, the platform that hosted the message, is known for hosting other similar claims: sabotage of railway infrastructure, arson of cars and attacks on government buildings.

Police are also investigating the possibility of technical negligence, but the carefully selective nature of the targets and the ideological discourse in the statement point to a premeditated action.