Dozens of people have been arrested in France for trying to disrupt the Olympic Games, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Monday.

Security forces arrested 50 people, Darmanin told the France 2 television channel.

He said those arrested had wanted to carry out “sabotage actions or radical protests’’ during the first Olympic competitions, but authorities prevented this.

The newspaper Le Parisien reported that 45 radical environmental movement Extinction Rebellion members had been arrested.

They had planned actions to protest against the social and ecological consequences of the Olympics.

The newspaper Le Figaro reported that an ultra-left-wing activist was arrested on Sunday in Oissel, about 121 kilometres north-west of Paris.

The man was arrested at a French national train or SNCF location and had access keys to SNCF technical premises, wire cutters, and a set of universal keys. The story said the set of the universal keys in his vehicle, along with literature, were linked to the ultra-left.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said this arrest was not connected to the investigation into the arson attacks that disrupted traffic on Friday hours ahead of the Olympics’ opening ceremonies.

This affected hundreds of thousands of travellers.

Darmanin also told France 2 that his office had a clearer picture of who might have been behind those attacks.

“We have identified a number of profiles of individuals who may have carried out these very deliberate and highly targeted acts of sabotage,’’ he said, adding that the attacks align with “a traditional method of the far-left.’’

A letter of responsibility with references to the radical left-wing scene and criticism of the Olympic Games had been sent to several media outlets.

According to Darmanin, whether it is authentic or if people are merely trying to claim credit for the acts must be examined.

Darmanin announced that whether the perpetrators received support from individuals within the SNCF remained uncertain.

Unknown persons have also damaged fibre-optic networks in parts of France overnight, but Paris, where the summer Olympics is currently being held, was not affected, French media reported on Monday.

According to the reports, six of France’s 101 administrative regions were hit.

In a post on Monday on X, France’s acting Secretary of State for Digital Affairs, Marina Ferrari, said the damage affected local access to cable, landline and mobile services.

“I condemn these cowardly and irresponsible acts in the strongest terms,’’ Ferrari wrote.

The newspaper Le Parisien reported that the providers Bouygues, Free, and SFR are affected.

SFR reported vandalism in the six areas between 1:00 a.m. (2300 GMT on Sunday) and 3:00 a.m. Cables were cut. This impacted the landline and mobile networks, including those of foreign providers using the SFR network.

According to the newspaper, it was still unclear how many people were affected by the incident. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the damage.

(dpa/NAN)