A driver who ran over a cyclist following an altercation in central Paris has been charged with murder in a case that has shocked France. Several gatherings are to take place on Saturday in homage to the 27-year-old victim who was a member of a citizens' cycling association.
The 52-year-old driver of the SUV, identified as Ariel M., is accused of having deliberately targeted the cyclist, who was named as Paul Varry, 27.
Tuesday's incident in Paris's well-to-do 8th district came as tensions rise in the battle for street space in the congested capital.
Tense exchanges between cyclists and drivers are commonplace in the city centre.
The driver, whose teenage daughter was also in the car, was arrested on the spot.
On Tuesday, the motorist and the cyclist were seen having an angry dispute by the side of the road.
Altercation
According to seven witness statements, Ariel M., trying to make progress on the congested road, steered his car onto the adjacent cycling path for about 200 metres, where he drove over the cyclist's foot, prosecutors said.
Varry, the cyclist, banged his fist on the bonnet of the car to alert the driver, who backed up at first.
Varry then stood in front of the car expressing his anger at the driver, who started driving towards him, according to witness statements.
An autopsy confirmed that Varry's lethal injuries had been caused by the car. The driver's test for alcohol and drugs came back negative.
CCTV footage showed the vehicle rising once when the left front tyre rolled over the body, and then again when the back tyre went over.
France begins low speed limit rollout on Paris ring road
The man's lawyer, Franck Cohen, told French news agency AFP that his client "has no explanation for what happened".
He said the driver "tried to extract himself" from a situation of "stress and fear" and may have lost control of his vehicle in the process.
Ariel M., a sales manager in the tech sector and father of four, had since been "thinking much more about the young man, who is the same age as his son, than about himself", Cohen said.
A judge ruled Friday that the driver, who lives in the mostly wealthy Hauts-de-Seine department west of the capital, will be held in custody until his trial.
The accused himself said at the hearing, during which he broke into tears several times: "I'm sorry for what happened. I never meant to run over him. I have never been a thug, I have never consorted with thugs."
'Unacceptable tragedy'
French associations promoting cycling have condemned the incident, with "Paris en Selle" (Paris in the Saddle) calling it "an unacceptable tragedy".
Varry was an "active member" of the group, according to its president Anne Monarché, who described the young man as someone who "fought for a peaceful city, so that we could cycle safely".
Some 200 people gathered by the Madeleine church on Wednesday to pay tribute to Varry, with several demonstrations by cyclists planned for Saturday.
Paris en Selle have called for a homage at Place de la République in Paris on Saturday at 5.45pm as well as a minute of silence across the country.
France to invest €2 billion by 2027 to get people on their bikes
The city council of Saint-Ouen, the northern French suburb where he lived, said he had made the cause of urban cyclists "the commitment of his life" and had helped the authorities promote cycling in the city.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said that "it is unacceptable to die in this day and age while cycling in Paris, at 27 years old".
The next session of the Paris City Council on 19 November will open with a minute of silence for Varry.
Hidalgo, who has been running city hall for over a decade, is behind an ambitious initiative to turn Paris into a cycling-friendly city with the aim of making it "100-percent bikeable" by 2026.
Resentment
Paris is already ranked as one of the world's dozen or so most bike-friendly cities since getting hundreds of kilometres of designated cycling paths.
Cyclists also get to run some red lights so long as there are no pedestrians, and can take one-way streets in the opposite direction from cars.
Much of the rue de Rivoli, one of the main thoroughfares in the heart of Paris, is now reserved for bicycles. City hall has promised to turn over the iconic Place de la Concorde to bikes and pedestrians soon.
But the new space accorded to bicycles has often come out of roads previously used entirely by motorists, many of whom resent the change.
Last year, 226 cyclists died on French roads.
(with AFP)
