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Paris trains stopped during ‘controlled explosion’ of WW2 bomb

The French police are set to blow up a World War II bomb in the north of Paris on Sunday leaving the area off limits to residents and cars, as well as disrupting train services to CDG airport and Eurostar services. This is what you need to know.

Published: 15 February 2019 17:27 CET
Updated: 17 February 2019 16:00 CET
Paris trains stopped during 'controlled explosion' of WW2 bomb
Photo: AFP
The bomb was discovered on February 4 on a construction site close to the Paris ring road, near the Porte de la Chapelle, in the north of the capital. Specialists moved the bomb from its original site Sunday morning and destroyed it in a controlled explosion in a seven metre deep well dug nearby. 

   
Trains in and out of the Gare du Nord, the Paris station where the Eurostar trains arrive from Britain, were severely restricted, and part of the A1 motorway and the ring road were closed.
 
The whole of Porte de la Chapelle district in the north of the French capital was evacuated while the controlled explosion was carried out. 
 
Bomb-disposal experts at first  failed to neutralize the bomb after it was found on February 4th on a construction site in the area. 
 
The operation affected an estimated 1,600 residents, employees and shopkeepers at Porte de la Chapelle and 300 in Saint-Denis, a town in the northern suburbs of Paris.  
 
On top of that services at Gare du Nord, including Eurostar trains were affected, with just one in every two journeys to go ahead as planned.  
 
“As a result of this operation we have had to substantially revise our plan for Sunday and will be running a modified timetable. This includes the cancellation of five services and the rerouting of one service to Marne-la-Vallée,” said Eurostar in a statement.
 
 
France's national rail service  also announced that services would be interrupted from 9 am and 3 pm on the Transilien commuter trains on lines H and K, as well as RER B, which serves Charles de Gaulle airport and RER D. 
 
There was just one TGV North service out of two operating and eight Thalys trains out of nine were modified or cancelled and Porte de la Chapelle station on line 12 of the Paris Metro was also at a standstill. 
 
TER trains operating in the Hauts-de-France region travelling to and from Paris were also cancelled. 
 
When it came to the roads, the A1 motorway was closed from Porte de Paris to Porte de la Chapelle from 7 am to 3 pm as was the ring road at Porte de Clignancourt to Porte d'Aubervilliers.
 
Despite the fact that 2,000 bombs were dropped on the greater Paris region of Ile-de-France in April 1944, “finding one in the French capital itself is extremely rare,” Christophe Pezron, the head of the police bomb-disposal unit, told the French press.
 
The last discovery in the capital was made 16 years ago back in 2003 at the bottom of the river Seine, said Pezron. 
 
However it is more common to find them in Seine-Saint-Denis department to the north of Paris. 
 

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OFFBEAT

Is Switzerland’s male-only mandatory military service ‘discriminatory’?

Under Swiss law, all men must serve at least one year in compulsory national service. But is this discriminatory?

Published: 7 December 2021 16:50 CET
Swiss military members walk across a road carrying guns
A new lawsuit seeks to challenge Switzerland's male-only military service requirement. Is this discriminatory? FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP

All men aged between the ages of 18 and 30 are required to complete compulsory military service in Switzerland. 

A lawsuit which worked its way through the Swiss courts has now ended up in the European Court of Human Rights, where the judges will decide if Switzerland’s male-only conscription requirement violates anti-discrimination rules. 

Switzerland’s NZZ newspaper wrote on Monday the case has “explosive potential” and has “what it takes to cause a tremor” to a policy which was first laid out in Switzerland’s 1848 and 1874 Federal Constitutions. 

What is Switzerland’s compulsory military service? 

Article 59 of the Federal Constitution of Switzerland says “Every man with Swiss citizenship is liable for military service. Alternative civilian service shall be provided for by law.”

Recruits must generally do 18 weeks of boot camp (longer in some cases). 

They are then required to spend several weeks in the army every year until they have completed a minimum 245 days of service.

Military service is compulsory for Swiss men aged 18 and over. Women can chose to do military service but this is rare.

What about national rather than military service? 

Introduced in 1996, this is an alternative to the army, originally intended for those who objected to military service on moral grounds. 

READ MORE: The Swiss army’s growing problem with civilian service

Service is longer there than in the army, from the age of 20 to 40. 

This must be for 340 days in total, longer than the military service requirement. 

What about foreigners and dual nationals? 

Once you become a Swiss citizen and are between the ages of 18 and 30, you can expect to be conscripted. 

READ MORE: Do naturalised Swiss citizens have to do military service?

In general, having another citizenship in addition to the Swiss one is not going to exempt you from military service in Switzerland.

However, there is one exception: the obligation to serve will be waved, provided you can show that you have fulfilled your military duties in your other home country.

If you are a Swiss (naturalised or not) who lives abroad, you are not required to serve in the military in Switzerland, though you can voluntarily enlist. 

How do Swiss people feel about military and national service? 

Generally, the obligation is viewed relatively positively, both by the general public and by those who take part in compulsory service. 

While several other European countries have gotten rid of mandatory service, a 2013 referendum which attempted to abolish conscription was rejected by 73 percent of Swiss voters. 

What is the court case and what does it say? 

Martin D. Küng, the lawyer from the Swiss canton of Bern who has driven the case through the courts, has a personal interest in its success. 

He was found unfit for service but is still required to pay an annual bill to the Swiss government, which was 1662CHF for the last year he was required to pay it. 

While the 36-year-old no longer has to pay the amount – the obligation only lasts between the ages of 18 and 30 – Küng is bring the case on principle. 

So far, Küng has had little success in the Swiss courts, with his appeal rejected by the cantonal administrative court and later by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court. 

Previous Supreme Court cases, when hearing objections to men-only military service, said that women are less suitable for conscription due to “physiological and biological differences”.

In Küng’s case, the judges avoided this justification, saying instead that the matter was a constitutional issue. 

‘No objective reason why only men have to do military service’

He has now appealed the decision to the European level. 

While men have previously tried and failed when taking their case to the Supreme Court, no Swiss man has ever brought the matter to the European Court of Human Rights. 

Küng told the NZZ that he considered the rule to be unjust and said the Supreme Court’s decision is based on political considerations. 

“I would have expected the Federal Supreme Court to have the courage to clearly state the obvious in my case and not to decide on political grounds,” Küng said. 

“There is no objective reason why only men have to do military service or pay replacement taxes. On average, women may not be as physically productive as men, but that is not a criterion for excluding them from compulsory military service. 

There are quite a few men who cannot keep up with women in terms of stamina. Gender is simply the wrong demarcation criterion for deciding on compulsory service. If so, then one would have to focus on physical performance.”

Is it likely to pass? 

Küng is optimistic that the Strasbourg court will find in his favour, pointing to a successful appeal by a German man who complained about a fire brigade tax, which was only imposed on men. 

“This question has not yet been conclusively answered by the court” Küng said. 

The impact of a decision in his favour could be considerable, with European law technically taking precedence over Swiss law.

It would set Switzerland on a collision course with the bloc, particularly given the popularity of the conscription provision. 

Küng clarified that political outcomes and repercussions don’t concern him. 

“My only concern is for a court to determine that the current regulation is legally wrong.”

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