A series of bomb explosions caused by an international anarchist group has put the Tour de France in danger. The bombs, which wrecked cars and buses, were backed by leaflets calling on the Spanish cyclists to pull out of the race.
The attacks meant that France faced a third front of violence as the protests by French farmers continued today and tension in Corsica increased after new bombings.
Explosions began in the Pyrenees area at 2 am when 13 empty buses in two car parks were destroyed at Lourdes. The buses had been carrying children.
Two hours later at Saint Lary in the High Pyrenees a series of bombs wrecked vehicles which had been accompanying the Tour de France. Two cars, a van, and a motorcycle were destroyed and other vehicles damaged.
Both attacks were claimed by a group called GARI - the revolutionary internationalist action group - an anarchist movement which kidnapped a Spanish banker in Paris in May.
Although dedicated to overthrowing all Governments, the group is concentrating on wrecking the Spanish Government and is blamed for two other explosions yesterday in Andorra and on the Spanish frontier.
After the explosions at Saint Lary, the group left leaflets calling on the Spanish cyclists to pull out of the race and said that non-Spanish cyclists should also show their opposition to fascism or risk “disagreeable measures.”
The group said they had chosen to attack the Tour because it turned away consciences from problems of survival in both democratic and Fascist countries.
The Tour organisers let the race continue with increased security measures, particularly for the Spaniards, but had to clear away trees which had been cut down along the route.
Meanwhile there was no let up in the wave of violence by French farmers, and at Morlaix in Brittany today two commandos ransacked Government buildings. Three arrests were made.
Other protests, mostly in Brittany or in the north, used well tried tactics of spreading liquid manure in front of Government buildings and hanging pigs from lamp posts and blocking roads and railways.
The ministerial council meets tomorrow to discuss the farmers’ grievances and their insistence on stopping cheap imports, especially beef.
In Corsica, the separatist movement Giustizia Paolina today claimed responsibility for the new series of explosions at a police station and shops owned by non-Corsicans.
The GP which has been responsible for about twenty bomb attacks this year said the point of rupture with “French colonialism” had been reached.
- Read more Guardian and Observer articles about the Tour de France: The Tour de France... to the Bitter End
