A group of environmental activists terrorized bikers participating in the Tour de France this week.
The attack came during the 10 stage of the well known bike race. Members of the climate crisis activist organization Derniere Renovation glued themselves to the road and threw smoke bombs on the track to try and disrupt the race.
Stage leader Alberto Bettiol even rode through a cloud of pink smoke after a bomb was hurled at the biker. He was then asked by officials to move to the side while they cleared the track, which took 10 minutes.
Luckily no bikers were injured, however what they did could have led to serious injuries for both the athletes as well as the protesters who glued themselves to the road.
Despite the lack of injuries, one video clearly shows the athletes backed up in a line waiting for officials to clear the protesters off the track. In the videos you can also see that the protesters are wearing shirts that read “We have 989 days left”, presumably a doomsday countdown until climate damage becomes irreversible.
Climate activists Derniere Renovation released their own statement of the incident, saying:
“Since the government doesn’t care about the climate crisis, we need to come and take over the Tour de France to refocus attention on what matters for our survival. We need to make our government react as they lead us to the slaughterhouse,” the statement read.
Derniere Renovation performed another stunt at last month‘s French Open tennis tournament. One of their activists jumped the fence in the middle of the semi-finals and tied herself to the net while wearing a shirt that read “We have 1,028 days left.”
While protests in general are okay, things like this could lead to serious injury and death. Do you think it’s okay for these protesters to behave the way they did at the Tour de France? How do you think they should be dealt with?
