Cyclist killed in Paris: hundreds of people gathered for a tribute to the victim

“Paul fought for a peaceful city, so that we could cycle safely“. Like the president of the “Paris en saddle” association, hundreds of people gathered Wednesday evening at Place de la Madeleine to pay tribute to this cyclist who was crushed to death Tuesday evening in the heart of the capital after a dispute with the driver of an SUV.

The president of “Paris en saddle”, Anne Monarché, very moved, paid tribute to the memory of this cyclist, Paul. The association, created in 2015, is at the origin of this gathering. Two other associations, “Mieux se mouvement à Bicyclette” and the “Vélo Ile-de-France” collective, also joined the call. “He is no longer here to defend this vision, but we are here to continue and I am counting on you, I am counting on us so that this motorized violence disappears.“, launched Anne Monarché.

“He was murdered by a madman. Just because he has a car he believes that the road belongs to him, that he bought ittestified for TF1 a cyclist present at the Madeleine. If we’re there, they don’t like it. And there are some who completely twist, who take action. The car is a weapon by destination. It kills. Some people use it as a weapon.”

The events took place late Tuesday afternoon on Boulevard Malesherbes (8ᵉ). A cyclist named Paul (according to the association “Paris en saddle” which described him on X as a “active member“), aged 27, died on the public highway, “after a dispute with the driver of a vehicle“, detailed the Paris prosecutor’s office to AFP.

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The driver, aged 52, was arrested at the scene. His teenage daughter, born in 2007, was in the vehicle, an SUV according to several media. Witnesses to the scene “perceived a voluntary attitude of the driver during the movement of the car towards the cyclist“, specified the prosecution. A murder investigation was entrusted to the 1st judicial police district. In 2023, 226 cyclists died on the roads of France, exceeding for the third consecutive year the threshold of 200 deaths.