UPDATE – 21 June 2011:

Further to the bikers’ demonstrations that took place last Saturday throughout France and paralysed the entire nation (read below), Michèle Merli, in charge of France’s road safety and working closely with Claude Guéant – current French interior minister, has made herself heard on national radio. According to Ms Merli, it would appear that the bikers have totally misunderstood the proposed obligation for all to wear a fluorescent high visibility yellow vest! Ms Merli has said that it has never been a question of wearing that vest but rather propose (not impose?!) to the bikers that they wear a little yellow strap around their arm so that they can be better seen by motorists. According to Ms Merli, that only costs 3 euros, so certainly everyone can afford it! UK France bikers.com believe that it is not the bikers who have misunderstood the latest government’s proposals but rather the French government who continue to severely misunderstand and under-estimate the safety of riders. As if wearing a little yellow strap around one arm, and no obligation for bikers to wear appropriate protective clothing, was indeed going to make them more visible on the road and, more importantly, protect them from injuries in case of accident. The FFMC (French Federation of Angry Bikers that organised the massive demonstrations all over France reported below) has urged all bikers in France to stay tuned and get prepared for another series of paralysing demonstrations all over the nation in no later than September unless, of course, the government abandons their proposals by then! UK France bikers.com is committed to support the actions of the FFMC by keeping all our readers around the globe informed of the developments. Stay tuned!

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ORIGINAL POST – 18 June 2011

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France has today seen the largest motorcycle protest ever seen before with almost 100,000 bikers paralysing the whole nation, from north to south and west to east. A real slap in the face of Claude Guéant, French interior minister, who has been trying to push through a series of ridiculous proposals designed to treat bikers like cash cows when, let’s recognise it, bikers are willing to use a mode of transport that guarantees zero congestion, considerably reduces pollution and offers a more affordable solution to those facing financial difficulties. 100,000 bikers paralysing the whole nation, what a massive humiliation for the French government and its interior minister, Claude Guéant.

Claude Guéant continues to treat motorcycles like cars in France by banning traffic filtering (lane splitting) and forcing all riders to remain stationary in traffic jams, as if they were driving cars. The same Claude Guéant is trying to push through the obligation for all riders to wear a fluorescent yellow high visibility vest without worrying about what they may wear underneath. They may wear absolutely nothing underneath that vest, it doesn’t matter, as long as they wear it, and never mind if they fall off their bike and severely hurt themselves! Claude Guéant is not concerned about safety, after all why would he, as long as he sees the French government cashing in thousands of euros per day from motorcyclists who fail to follow his silly rules, then he’s happy. Not to mention Guéant’s proposal to force all bikers to change their registration plate for a bigger one, as if this had an impact on reducing the number of road accidents involving motorcyclists!

Bikers in France are just fed up with Guéant’s stupid proposals and his “I can’t see you, I can’t hear you” attitude, to the extent that almost 100,000 of them have today standed up against their government and paralysed the whole nation. The Fédération Française des Motards en Colère (FFMC – French Federation of Angry Bikers), through its highly efficient network of regional and local offices, organised demonstrations in every single city and town across the country. Each town and city was brought to a complete standstill for hours with the local population being totally unable to move around. Paris alone saw more than 15,000 bikers blocking the heart of the capital, Lyon (France’s second largest city) saw more than 10,000 bikers, Lille (in the north of the country) counted more than 7,000 angry motorcyclists, Toulouse (in the south-west) was totally blocked by 8,000 bikers, Marseille and Bordeaux (in the south-east and south-west respectively) were also paralysed by 3,000 bikers each. Thousands of bikers blocked central France with 3,500 of them in Clermont-Ferrand, the whole of Brittany (in the north-west) with more than 3,000 bikers in Brest, Quimper and Rennes. The east of the country was also brought to a standstill with more than 6,000 bikers protesting in Strasbourg, Mulhouse Reims and Metz. Smaller towns were also the scene of protests with 600 bikers each in Niort and Dijon, 400 in the beautiful and historic town of Carcassonne, 700 in Perpignan, 900 in Poitiers and 500 in Auxerre, to name a few. Not only the bikers protested in mainland France but also in a few of its overseas territories including the island of Reunion (located off Madagascar and Mauritius) with almost 2,000 bikers, the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe in the Caribbean and also some bikers gathered on the island of New Caledonia (located off Australia and New Zealand).

Despite the pouring rain that fell over most of France today, the 100,000 bikers still went ahead with their protests to express their disgust at Guéant’s proposals. Claude Guéant has so far refused to listen but will he now listen to tens of thousands of bikers who have clearly proved to him that they have the power to bring the whole country to a complete stop? Let’s not forget that France is less than a year away from the next presidential elections, so will Guéant stand on the safe side and finally listen to the bikers if he is not to lose his position in the next government? The FFMC has clearly stated its intention to organise further similar demonstrations in no later than September if Guéant’s proposals are not abandoned immediately.

LET’S ALL GIVE A MASSIVE ROUND OF APPLAUSE TO THE FFMC AND ALL THE BIKERS IN FRANCE FOR THEIR DETERMINATION TO STAND UP AGAINST THEIR GOVERNMENT !

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If you’re based in France and want to take part of the fight against the Government’s proposed introduction of a compulsory annual environmental and road safety test for motorcycles and their continued policy to ban motorcyclists from filtering through traffic, then contact the Fédération Française des Motards en Colère (FFMC – French Federation of Angry Bikers).

Si vous habitez en France et souhaitez participer aux manifestations contre la proposition du gouvernement d’introduire un controle technique pour les 2 roues motorises ansi que de continuer a empecher la circulation inter files pour les motocyclistes dans les embouteillages, contactez la Fédération Française des Motards en Colère (FFMC).

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Please join and support the campaign to stop Westminster Council from stealth taxing motorcyclists to park before their scheme spreads all over the UK and the rest of Europe. For further details, visit http://www.notobikeparkingtax.com/

Rejoignez le groupe de manifestants contre le stationnement payant des motocyclistes a Westminster avant que cela ne se propage dans le reste du Royaume-Uni et l’Union Europeenne. Pour plus d’informations, consultez http://www.notobikeparkingtax.com/

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