By Euronews
Published on •Updated
ADVERTISEMENTTwo anarchist groups in France claimed the responsibility of a power failure which left more than 160,000 houses without power in the south of the country.
Blackout assigned the city of Nice and the Cannes Festival as well as to overthrow vital services such as traffic lights and ticket distributors.
Local officials said they suspected that the failure had been caused by a criminal fire attack and two “bands of self -proclaimed anarchists” said they were behind the attack.
UK Media said that groups had published an anonymous letter on Sunday in which they would have written: “The purpose of the action was not only to disrupt the festival, but also to deprive all industrial electricity establishments.”
But the groups did not explain why they wanted to target the festival or industrial sites.
According to the prosecutor’s office, a fire broke out in an electric transformer in the Moulins district west of Nice.
Mayor Christian Estrosi said that the fire had been deliberately started and that he “firmly condemned these malicious acts which affect our country” in an article on X.
He added that the city would strengthen its safety around electric sites in the coming days and that an official complaint would be filed following the incident.
The power was restored around 6 a.m. on Sunday. The neighboring towns of Saint-Laurent-du-Var and Cagnes-sur-Mer were also affected by the breakdown.
The incident follows an electricity failure that struck Cannes and the surrounding region the day before, affecting nearly 160,000 houses.
A high-voltage substation was burnt down in the Var department, and a power pylon was sawn in the Alpes-Maritimes.
Despite the disturbance, the Cannes Film Festival took place as planned during its last day, thanks to its independent power supply. Electricity was restored in the region at the end of the afternoon.
