French authorities consider arson might have performed a job in an influence outage Saturday in southeast France that threatened to jeopardize the Cannes Movie Competition’s closing celebrations, together with the much-anticipated Palme d’Or ceremony.
Energy was restored hours earlier than the ceremony, round 3 p.m. native time, as music started blasting once more from beachfront audio system. The top of the blackout was greeted with loud cheers from locals.
Authorities have been investigating the chance of arson in a hearth at {an electrical} substation close to Cannes that weakened the grid in a single day, a spokesperson for the French nationwide gendarmerie mentioned.
The ability outage occurred hours later, after a high-voltage line fell at one other location. Authorities have been investigating what precipitated that line to break down.
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About 160,000 households within the Alpes-Maritimes space misplaced electrical energy.
In an announcement, Laurent Hottiaux, the prefect for the realm, condemned “critical acts of injury to electrical infrastructures.”
“All assets are mobilized to determine, observe down, arrest and produce to justice the perpetrators of those acts,” mentioned Hottiaux.
Cannes Movie Competition organizers confirmed the outage affected the early actions of Saturday and mentioned the Palais des Festivals — the Croisette’s predominant venue — had switched to an impartial energy provide.
“All scheduled occasions and screenings, together with the Closing Ceremony, will proceed as deliberate and below regular circumstances,” the assertion mentioned. “At this stage, the reason for the outage has not but been recognized. Restoration efforts are underway.”
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Visitors lights in components of Cannes and the encompassing metropolis of Antibes stopped working after 10 a.m., resulting in site visitors jams and confusion in metropolis facilities. Most outlets alongside the Croisette remained closed, and native meals kiosks have been solely accepting money. Practice service in Cannes was additionally disrupted.
Screenings on the Cineum, one of many competition’s satellite tv for pc venues, have been briefly suspended, the competition added.
The Palme d’Or — the competition’s most prestigious prize — was set to be awarded Saturday evening, with high contenders together with Joachim Trier’s household drama “Sentimental Worth,” Jafar Panahi’s revenge thriller “It Was Simply an Accident,” Kleber Mendonça Filho’s political thriller “The Secret Agent,” and Óliver Laxe’s desert highway journey “Sirât.”
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