A massive power outage in southern France left nearly 45,000 people without electricity on Sunday, after an electrical transformer was set on fire overnight. The city of Nice and nearby Cannes were heavily impacted.
Two self-proclaimed “bands of anarchists” claimed responsibility for the power cuts, saying they targeted the Cannes Film Festival and several industrial establishments. However, prosecutors are investigating the claim, which cannot be independently verified.
The outage occurred just a day after another major power cut affected around 160,000 homes in the region. The mayor of Nice condemned the attack, while local officials suggested that the previous power cut on Saturday was also caused by deliberate sabotage.
Saturday marked the last day of the Cannes Film Festival, which continued with screenings using generators despite the outage. Authorities are looking into the motives behind the attacks and will provide further updates as more information becomes available.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/24/europe/southern-france-cannes-power-outage-intl