In Marseille, a bus driver seriously injured with a baseball bat by a traveler whom he had asked not to smoke

Marseille drivers exercise their right of withdrawal, traffic is interrupted Thursday evening.

A bus driver from Marseille, in Bouches-du-Rhône, was seriously injured on the evening of Thursday January 23 after being attacked with a baseball bat by a traveler. The driver asked him not to smoke in his bus, reports “ici Provence” (formerly France Bleu). He suffers from severe head trauma.

The attack occurred at the terminus of line 91 Les Caillols Hôpital, around 7 p.m. According to initial information, the attacker was smoking on the bus when the driver asked him to put out his cigarette.

“The bus driver kindly asked him several times to put out his cigarette. The person then rushed at him at the driving position with a sharp object and hit him several times on the head.”tells “ici Provence” Nicolas Ruiz, FO general secretary of the RTM, the metropolitan transport authority. A right of withdrawal for RTM drivers was exercised, and bus and tram service was interrupted Thursday evening. For its part, the RTM indicates that it has filed a complaint, citing an attack with “a baseball bat”.

“Unacceptable and intolerable! At 7 p.m., an RTM driver, on duty on line 91, asked a passenger not to smoke on the bus. At this remark, the individual, armed with a baseball bat, hit the officer hard in the head.”

Catherine Pila, president of the RTM

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“The SAMU intervened very quickly to rescue the driver who suffered from severe head trauma. All my support to the injured tramino. Let us hope that the video surveillance cameras will allow the attacker to be arrested very quickly”adds the president of the RTM.