French authorities investigate second power blackout in two days

French authorities have launched an investigation into a power blackout blamed on sabotage that affected at least 45,000 people, just a day after a similar outage disrupted the final day of the Cannes film festival.

Authorities in Nice said an electrical transformer had been set on fire in the west of the city in the early hours of Sunday, with power restored later in the day. A day earlier, a separate blaze, believed to have been started by arson, contributed to a power cut that hit Cannes.

The first power cut affected 160,000 households, knocking out traffic lights and cash machines throughout the French Riviera. Broadcaster BFMTV reported that the incident was made worse as three of the four pillars of an electricity pylon in the region had also been cut with a saw.

Writing on social media on Sunday, the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, said he strongly denounced the “malicious acts”. He said power had been quickly restored, with local and national police mobilised. He added that the city would make surveillance camera images available to investigators and would reinforce the camera network around the city’s strategic electric sites.

Commenting on the power cuts that hit Cannes, before the latest fire, Laurent Hottiaux, the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes region, told BFMTV there were certain elements that were “not a coincidence” but would not comment further, as an investigation led by the national prosecutor’s office was under way. He said authorities had taken additional security measures.

The power outage hit the Cannes film festival headquarters, interrupting several screenings, but the closing ceremony went ahead thanks to backup generators. The top prize was won by the dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi for his drama It Was Just an Accident, inspired by his time spent imprisoned by the Iranian regime.

Iranian authorities met the 64-year-old director’s victory with silence, for his film in which five people confront the man they believe tortured them in prison. After winning the Palme d’Or, Panahi, who has been jailed multiple times, made an appeal for national unity.

On Sunday, however, Iran summoned the French charge d’affaires in Tehran over “insulting” comments made by France’s foreign minister.

“Following the insulting remarks and unfounded allegations by the French minister … the charge d’affaires of that country in Tehran has been summoned to the ministry,” state news agency IRNA reported. Jean-Noel Barrot had called the film “a gesture of resistance against the Iranian regime’s oppression.”

Authorities said they did not believe the power cuts were a specific threat against the Cannes film festival and have not commented on the possible perpetrators.

The rightwing French MEP Éric Ciotti, who represents the region in the national assembly, described the incidents as sabotage and terrorist acts. Ciotti, who was briefly leader of the mainstream rightwing Les Républicains party, said the damage was extremely serious and could endanger lives. “These terrorist attacks must be fought relentlessly,” he wrote on X.

European officials have said that criminal groups working for foreign powers, notably Russia, were behind a spate of acts of sabotage across the continent, such as fires in supermarkets and shopping centres, cyber-attacks, beatings and antisemitic graffiti.

As public awareness of sabotage has advanced, so purveyors of disinformation have sought to take advantage. Recent power outages in Spain were attributed to Russia in fake online articles. The causes of a recent blaze at an electricity substation in London that forced Heathrow airport to shut down, causing travel chaos, remains unknown, although suspicious activity has been ruled out.