Two defendants could face up to five years in prison after spate of incidents in country’s rural south-west

Two men accused of driving up to cyclists in rural south-west France and pushing them into ditches for fun have gone on trial in Toulouse for organised violence and could face up to five years in prison.

The two men, aged 20 and 22, were arrested last year after a spate of cyclists being pushed off their bikes on quiet country roads. One victim told the newspaper La Dépêche: “It was April … I’d gone out on my bike for the afternoon. When I got to a little country road … I felt a car was following me silently. It was driving very slowly behind me when it could easily have overtaken me. Then after a few minutes it drove up beside me. The car’s passenger suddenly pushed me down.”

theGuardian👉

« Ce sont des faits graves mais surtout je tiens à le dire d’une stupidité affligeante », souligne la représentante du ministère public avant de requérir leur placement en détention provisoire. 👉 in french

  • SternburgExport@feddit.de
    22·
    11 months ago

    What‘s with all this hate towards cyclists? A lot of motorists will say it‘s because a lot of cyclists are ignoring traffic laws but I see just as much motorists do this and they don‘t get nearly as much hate.

    • CommanderCloon@lemmy.ml
      12·
      11 months ago

      I don’t think that was cyclist hate, just really stupid individuals, the kind to get a laugh out of kicking a toddler

      • apprehensively_human@lemmy.caEnglish
        12·
        11 months ago

        Alright, I’ll take the bait.

        Clogging the delightful curvy mountain roads I like

        Bikes don’t clog roads, even weaving side to side a bicycle will take up less of a lane than an average car would. I think you’ll find that those delightful curvy mountain roads will look even better from outside a car and at a slower pace.

        going <5 MPH and wobbling all over the road

        Any vehicle with two wheels is unstable and cannot remain perfectly straight and upright. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t still be complaining if bikes had four wheels.

        I’m forced to slow down for some looser in spandex

        It’s loser, not looser. If you’re going to troll at least learn how to spell.

        You people are a plague on public roads

        Source? Every person on a bike is one fewer car in your way.

        kill yourselves. No wait, burry yourselves alive

        Bury is spelled with a single R. Improper spelling takes away your credibility.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    3·
    11 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    Two men accused of driving up to cyclists in rural south-west France and pushing them into ditches for fun have gone on trial in Toulouse for organised violence and could face up to five years in prison.

    The two men, aged 20 and 22, were arrested last year after a spate of cyclists being pushed off their bikes on quiet country roads.

    Another man described being on a weekend cycle ride with two friends when a car pulled up beside him and the passenger allegedly reached out a hand and pushed him into a ditch.

    I felt a violent blow to my left ear,” he said, adding that he had been slapped or punched by the person in the car.

    Brice Zanin, a lawyer for several of the cyclists, told France Inter radio: “The only motive was idiocy, because once the victims had been pushed off their bikes, the men drove off laughing in their car.

    Arrested in December 2023, the two men denied any involvement and said they had no bad feelings towards cyclists.

    The original article contains 351 words, the summary contains 175 words. Saved 50%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!