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Police in Paris shoot at car that crashed through Tour de France barriersPlace de la Concorde licenced CC BY SA 3.0 by Nitot

Police in Paris shoot at car that crashed through Tour de France barriers

Incident happened this morning ahead of race finale
by Simon_MacMichael
Sun, Jul 26, 2015 11:07
9

Updated: Police in Paris this morning opened fire on a vehicle after it was driven through barriers set up for this afternoon's finale of the Tour de France.

The incident happened at Place de la Concorde at approximately 8am reports Telegraph.co.uk, with the car colliding with another vehicle.

When officers who were erecting barricades for this afternoon's final stage of the Tour signalled for the driver to stop, he instead drove at them with officers opening fire.

Police are now searching for the driver, whom they believe may have been hit by gunfire and drove off. Initial reports suggested that he had fled on foot, but that is not now believed to be the case.

France has been on a heightened security alert since incidents in January including the shootings at the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, and there was some speculation initially that the incident this morning may have had links to terrorism, but police have subsequently said that ththey are satisfied it does not.

The incident has not affected the final stage of the Tour de France this afternoon, or the women's race, La Course, that precedes it, and which is currently under way.

Note: This article was originally published at 11.07am on Sunday 26 July 2015 shortly after news of the incident broke, and was updated at 2.00pm to reflect the latest situation.

 

Tour de France 2015
Paris
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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9 comments

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usedtobefaster | 9 years ago
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This ...

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cycling/tour-de-france/tour-de-france-2015-p...

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kaysing | 9 years ago
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Did anyone notice the protester on the course at about 2km from the end of yesterdays stage in Paris? A man in a white sheet with arms outstretched stood directly in the path of the riders. They managed to narrowly avoid him as they took a left turn, two turns before they entered the tunnel for the last time. TV camera bike has footage of protester and Froome within touching distance (it is on the TV coverage). Whilst an idiotic thing to do, he did appear fairly passive and did not try to collide with anyone (although he was very close to them and it was the Peletons avoiding action which prevented an almighty dramatic end to the Tour.

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Beefy | 9 years ago
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rightly or wrongly, unfortunatly recent terrorist attacks in France must make people wonder if they are under attack again but surley the Telegraph should get the facts right before putting it in to print, The anxiety such events have caused in recent months is dreadful and I don't think misreporting events is acceptable. Road CC can't be held responsible for the misinformation from the press though.

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kie7077 replied to Beefy | 9 years ago
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Beefy wrote:

rightly or wrongly, unfortunatly recent terrorist attacks in France must make people wonder if they are under attack again but surley the Telegraph should get the facts right before putting it in to print, The anxiety such events have caused in recent months is dreadful and I don't think misreporting events is acceptable. Road CC can't be held responsible for the misinformation from the press though.

Get real, tiles falling from roofs cause more deaths than terrorists, do you know anybody who suffers from 'dreadful anxiety' because of the risk of falling roof tiles?

The lesson to be learned is to be very careful repeating anything papers like the Telegraph or the Daily Mail say, these papers are racist, they shouldn't be able to carry on the way they do. But the gov't like terrorism because it provides a means to manipulate people and it gives them an excuse to spy on everybody - now they are saying they have to spy on MPs!!!!!

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Simon_MacMichael | 9 years ago
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This story has been updated to reflect the situation as at 2pm UK time.

Regarding the original report, the speculation about terrorism was from the Telegraph live blog (linked in article), where they were formatted as quotes and appeared to be attributed to a spokesman for the police union, although that now appears not to be the case. Apologies for confusion that may have caused.

It is a fact though that France is on high alert and an incident such as this, on the day of a major event and close to the US and British embassies as well as the Elysee Palace will inevitably give rise to speculation it may be linked to terrorism.

That has now been discounted by police, but those statements were subsequent to publication of our original report.

Click-bait? Not at all. It is a news story about an incident that could have had an impact on today's races, though as it turns out the events are continuing as normal.

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crikey | 9 years ago
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Cath Wiggins or Quintanas mum; you heard it here first...

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Airzound replied to crikey | 9 years ago
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crikey wrote:

Cath Wiggins or Quintanas mum; you heard it here first...

Ever so slightly controversial and defamatory.

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demolitionspecial | 9 years ago
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The Sky report clearly quotes a Police source a saying that this is not terrorist action just a compliance issue, which happens regularly.
Up your game Road CC, stop going for the lazy click-bait and by resorting to sensationalist stereotyping.

It took me 30 seconds to learn this. Do your research more thoroughly in future.

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kie7077 | 9 years ago
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I doubt they fled on foot and got away especially if injured. The Guardian article says they drove away, it doesn't mention anyone fleeing on foot or a collision with another car. BBC article says the driver hit a parked vehicle first and suggests the car occupants where party-goers on their way home.

The mention of the Islamist is very poor and is bigotry in my eyes - implying that when something bad happens it's an extremist of one particular religion when there is no evidence to suggest this is true. It could just as easily be some random nut job who is pissed that their route is blocked. There is enough racial tension without stirring up more unnecessarily.

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