French authorities believe Abon may have played a role in a blackout in southeastern France on Saturday, threatening to endanger the Cannes Film Festival's closing celebration.
Power was restored several hours before the ceremony, around 3pm local time, as music began to explode again from the beachfront speakers. The end of the blackout was greeted with loud cheers from locals.
Authorities were investigating possible arson in the fire with currents near Cannes, which weakened the grid overnight, a spokesperson for the French National General said.
The power outage occurred several hours later, after a high voltage line fell elsewhere. Authorities were investigating the cause of the line's collapse.
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Approximately 160,000 households in the Alpes-Maritimes area lost power.
In a statement, the region's governor, Laurent Hottiaux, condemned “acts of serious damage to electrical infrastructure.”
“All resources will be mobilized to identify, track, arrest and bring the perpetrators of these actions to trial,” Hottiaux said.
Organizers at the Cannes Film Festival confirmed that the outage affected early activities on Saturday, saying the Palais des Festival (the main venue in the closet) has switched to independent power.
“All scheduled events and screenings, including the closing ceremony, will proceed as planned and under normal conditions,” the statement said. “At this stage, the cause of the outage has not yet been identified. A recovery effort is underway.”
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Some anti-base traffic lights in parts of Cannes and surrounding cities have stopped working after 10am, leading to traffic congestion and disruption in the city centre. Most shops along the closet remained closed, with local food kiosks accepting cash only. Train service in Cannes was also confusing.
Screenings at Cineum, one of the festival's satellite venues, were easily stopped, the festival added.
Palm Door, the festival's most prestigious award, is due to be awarded on Saturday night, with Joachim Torier's family drama “Sentimental Value,” Jafar Panahhi's revenge thriller “It Was Just an Accident,” and Clever Mendonsa Philo's political thriller “The Secret Agent,” and his journey down his desert path.
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