They came by the handful, by mountain bike, city bike, electric mount, racing beast or old biclou. Many had worn “that blue” of work which had colored his nickname. For “Jean Marc”, they even dared to wear rubber boots, not always the most practical for walking. For them, he was “a bright spot in everyday life”, “a symbol”, “a Smurf”, “an elf”, who brightened up their lives. “When we saw him, we knew that the day was going to go well,” relishes a forty-year-old. You miss only one being…
“Much more than a silhouette”
Broke “much too early”, during a road accident last weekend, Jean-Marc Chatard, the Man in Blue, would no doubt have been surprised to see 500 people in the streets of Limoges to pay him back. tribute. In front of the town hall, her little niece, Mathilde, holds in her frail chilled hands the vibrant tribute she is about to read. “Jean-Marc was much more than a familiar silhouette in the streets of Limoges,” she describes: he embodied a warm and endearing presence for each of us. »
“When we passed him at a red light, he was courteous, but not talkative,” explains a member of the Vélo Rétro 87 association. Few of the walkers spoke to him, “but there was no need”: “Her smile, her face and her good humor were enough,” recalls Marie, who is a little swimming in the uniform of the day, a little too big for her.
“What touches us is that he represented what we have forgotten that we are,” metaphors Mayor Émile Roger Lombertie: the hardworking people from the countryside and the hardworking people of the workers. » The councilor sees in it a “libertarian vision of life”, “the memory, the reminder, the symbol, the legend” of what the Limougeauds think they are.
“The work is never finished”
A year after the arrival of RTL to ward off the Limoges bashing, Jean-Marc Chatard symbolized the paradox that constitutes the “soul” of the porcelain city: his own humility and the gentle irony which makes us love “this singularity and this authentic life », described by his great-niece… “He lived at his own pace, following his own path”, she recalls. One man, one city… “Safety rules didn’t count, but simply his desire for freedom on the bike,” she adds.
This week, despite “the great goodwill of people on the networks” as François, his great-nephew, described it, some people questioned Jean-Marc Chatard's respect for security measures. “I find it disgusting,” denounces Nadine. That's like saying a girl deserves to be attacked because she's in a miniskirt. »
“Beyond the tribute, it above all raises the question of road violence and mobility,” says a left-wing activist. “This death,” insists Émile Roger Lombertie, “reminds us that this work is never finished, to provide education, supervision and security conditions for all those who travel in the city and in the countryside. »
A statue “in reflection”
Politically, will these words be acted upon? That's a question. Another question posed by this week of contemplation and collective emotion, how to perpetuate the memory of the “blue angel” described by his great-niece? “I would love a treasure hunt, along the lines of “Where’s Charlie From?” », Considers a demonstrator.
The idea of a statue also came up. “He wouldn’t have liked it,” Bernard wants to believe. The mayor of Limoges spoke about it with the family, on the steps of the town hall. “It’s a thought that I have in my head and which will have to be validated,” he explains. Color, at least, should not be up for debate.
Sébastien Dubois
Photo Stéphane Lefevre
