French Police Blames Arson For Large Riviera Power Outage

(Bloomberg) -- French police said a major power outage that affected up to 160,000 homes in the French Riviera city of Cannes and its surroundings was caused by arson. 

The head of the local police strongly condemned the “infringement against our infrastructure” in a statement, and said that the cut was the result of a fire that started at 4.30 a.m. local time at a high tension electrical substation. An electronic pylon was also severely damaged in a nearby area, according to the statement.  

The police said that power has been fully restored.

The outage coincided with the last day of the Cannes film festival. Organizers said the closing ceremony later on Saturday would take place normally after switching the power supply to an alternative network.

(Changes headline, adds police comment and power resumption)

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