FRANCE’S high-speed rail network was hit on Friday with widespread and “criminal” acts of vandalism including arson attacks, paralysing travel to Paris from across the rest of France and Europe.

The attack came only hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympics and as workers took strike action at a five-star Paris hotel where Games officials are staying.

French officials condemned the rail arson attacks as “criminal actions,” though they said there was no sign of a direct link to the Games, and prosecutors in Paris opened a national investigation saying the crimes could carry sentences of 15 to 20 years.