Paris Olympics 2024 LIVE: Chaos as arson attack hits Paris rail network in sabotage attempt just hours before opening ceremony gets underway with all airports closed in French capital amid fears Putin could be behind strike

Returning to the comments made by France’s Prime Minister earlier today, Gabriel Attal said today’s ‘acts of sabotage’ were ‘prepared and coordinated’.

The PM said in a post on X: ‘Early this morning, acts of sabotage were carried out in a prepared and coordinated manner on SNCF installations.

‘The consequences on the rail network are massive and serious.’

He added that he shared the anger of the French people looking to attend the games today and vowed ‘to find and punish the perpetrators of these criminal acts’.

The CEO of the French rail company SNCF has warned travellers the disruption following the arson attacks are likely to continue for the next few days.

Jean-Pierre Farandou told BFM TV: ‘I am thinking of all the French who won’t be able to go on holiday today, or those who will leave in worse conditions,’ he says.

‘It will certainly last the whole weekend, because it will take a long time to fix. It’s a day of sadness today,’

Mr Farandou said earlier today some 800,000 customers had been impacted ahead of a busy weekend for French holidaymakers. Thousands of rail staff had been deployed to repair the damage.

France’s Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has said the country’s intelligence services and law enforcement have been mobilised ‘to find and punish the perpetrators of these criminal acts’.

Eurostar has told customers to cancel their trips on Friday if they can, amid ongoing disruption to its services.

In an update to an earlier statement, the rail operator said: ‘We encourage our customers to postpone their trip if possible.’

The announcement will come as unwelcome news for the thousands of sports fans who are looking to travel to Paris via rail for the start of the Olympics.

On a more positive note, lets have a look at the start of the Olympic celebrations in Paris.

The final leg of the Olympic torch relay has kicked off this morning, with IOC President Thomas Bach and the Chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission Emma Terho pictured taking part in the event at the Olympic Village.

They have handed the torch over to China’s Wu Jingyu who has now passed it on to Masomah Ali Zara, who is the head of the refugee Olympic committee.

France’s sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera (pictured below with French President Emmanuel Macron) has said the arson attacks on France’s rail network today were ‘probably coordinated’.

She told Sky News: ‘It’s probably a large-scale sabotage with some malicious acts, probably co-ordinating.

‘We’re still in the process of analysing all the impacts, accessing what we’re going to implement as solutions because it’s going to have impacts also over the weekend.’

Ms Oudéa-Castera also admitted the ‘malicious acts’ could be the work of Russia or of a terrorist group as well as ‘protesters or even French people’.

She said the arsonists were ‘playing against the side of the athletes, who have been working so hard, for so many years’.

She added: ‘I have a little bit of anger. We are not going to let ourselves be destabilised by this.’

Fears are mounting that Moscow may be behind today’s ‘massive arson attack’ which has brought chaos to France’s rail network after an alleged Russian spy was arrested earlier this week.

Kirill Gryaznov (below), 40, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with working ‘with a foreign power to try and incite hostilities in France’ after being identified as working for the FSB, Vladimir Putin’s domestic intelligence agency.

Gryaznov – who denies any wrongdoing – is said to have boasted about turning the start of the Paris Olympics into ‘an opening ceremony like no other’.

Traffic has begun to queue at the Port of Dover in Kent this morning amid the ongoing travel chaos across the Channel.

Drivers are being warned to expect a ‘weekend of woe’ on the roads as millions of families embark on getaway journeys after many schools in England and Wales broke up for summer this week.

Several Eurostar trains to Paris have been cancelled and others have been diverted following the arson attacks today.

The rail operator, which runs international services from London St Pancras, confirmed its trains would be delayed because of the ongoing issues over the Channel.

Eurostar said that ‘all high-speed trains going to and coming from Paris are being diverted via the classic line today’.

It added: ‘This extends the journey time by around an hour-and-a-half. Several trains have been cancelled.

‘Eurostar’s teams are fully mobilised in stations, in the call centres, and onboard to ensure that all passengers are informed and can reach their destination.’

The company said customers were being informed via email, text and on the Eurostar website.

Any affected passengers can cancel or refund their tickets or modify their journey free of charge.

As mentioned below, a ‘massive arson attack’ on France’s rail network has brought chaos to the start of the Paris Olympics today.

With just hours to go before the opening ceremony on the River Seine, fires were started at key installations, bringing trains to a halt and affecting around 800,00 passengers.

The Gare du Nord – the main Eurostar station in Paris – was hit by the attacks on the rail network, said a spokesman for SNCF, France’s rail operator.

This caused the cancellation of multiple services, including ones meant to be bringing sports fans into the French capital.

Read our full story below:

Morning all and welcome to MailOnline’s liveblog for the start of the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

The start of the world’s most coveted sporting event has not got off the best start as a ‘massive arson attack’ on France’s rail network has brought chaos across the country just hours before the opening ceremony.

We will bring you the latest updates as the day unfolds as thousands of sports fans are expected to descend on the capital amid the travel chaos.