The Saint-Charles station, in Marseille, was blocked for more than an hour on Tuesday, June 15 in the evening after
"a big police intervention"
for
"a potentially threatening individual"
in a TGV from Nancy, learned the AFP from police sources and from SNCF. Passengers of another train blocked on the tracks before its arrival in Marseille because of this intervention explained that they had been informed of
"an attack alert"
, or even of
"an attempted attack"
.
"We were alerted that a potentially threatening individual would be on board"
the TGV connecting Nancy to Nice
"and that he could have malicious intentions"
, detailed the Prefect of police of Bouches-du-Rhône Frédérique Camilleri during an impromptu press point at Saint-Charles station, around 10:30 p.m., after the site reopened to passengers and the public.
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The man in question was finally arrested by police officers from the Marseille anti-crime brigade after their intervention on board the train. He
"was taken into police custody for possession of a category D weapon, an artisanal baton, and for criminal association with a view to committing a crime"
, for his part said the deputy public prosecutor of Marseille André Ribes :
"He did not have a handgun on him, nor a firearm"
. The investigation was entrusted to the judicial police of Marseille and the Departmental Directorate of Public Security of Bouches-du-Rhône. The national anti-terrorism prosecution was informed but was not contacted. Still according to André Ribes, the man arrested is known to justice and was sentenced in 2020 for
"Denunciations of imaginary facts to the judicial authority"
.
"They were looking for someone"
"We were informed of a major intervention of the police in a train coming from Nancy, they were looking for someone"
, had testified to AFP the controller of a TGV connecting Paris to Marseille, while the Saint station -Charles had just been reopened to travelers and the public shortly before 10 p.m. Their train had also been blocked for a long time before its arrival in the Marseille city, said this SNCF employee. Before the authorities' press briefing, Malo, a 22-year-old student, a passenger on another train from Montpellier, explained to AFP
that he had
been informed
"that there were two fanatics who attempted an attempted attack "
. André Ribes did not comment on the presence of a second person, specifying that
"We are at the start of the investigation"
.
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The Saint-Charles station was finally blocked for more than an hour, between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.,
according to the prefect of police,
a
“substantial police force”
deployed, notably with two CRS companies as reinforcements.
In total, between 400 and 500 passengers on board different trains were affected by this incident, according to Cyrille Durand, spokesperson for SNCF Voyageurs.
The traffic was interrupted
"for several hours"
according to Ms. Camilleri who specified that 250 passengers were on board this TGV from Nancy.
In Marseille, passengers bound for Nice were transferred to coaches.
