RE: Peppered at Le Mans
Saturday 12th June 2004
Peppered at Le Mans
Heavy handed policing dished out last night
Revellers at Le Mans were treated to some harsh treatment by French Police last night. The improvised drag strips and hooning that goes on on the roads alongside the campsites is stuff of legend. It's often dangerous with some people going a little too far and the police do step in.
Reports are coming back of some unusually heavy handed policing in one area. It's said that police intervened by driving along the road pumping out pepper spray. Those on the spot claim that some people needed hospital treatment.
Discussion
BrianDrought said:
Yup... was in Houx Annexe and saw the fire engines/police vans hurtling round the roundabout...was hilarious.
Noone got hurt, but that poor fella in the afro wig and ladies underwear kept falling off his go-ped all night
Err.... you obviously weren't there at 23:15 ish on Friday - certainly wasn't hilarious. There was a Gendarme (sp?) van slowly drift by with the sliding door slightly open. They discharged a few seconds of pepper spray and about 30 people instantly (ie. within 1-2 seconds) suddenly hit the ground, throwing up and making a lot of noise. After that there was screams of agony, people couldn't see, people couldn't walk. Highly impressive stuff, but totally inappropriate usage. No warning given, no other actions to stop taken, and it wasn't even aimed at the people with the water guns / encouraging people to spin it.
There was one girl who was in a real state - screaming, couldn't see and couldn't walk. Her boyfriend went nuts and tried to get into the van by banging on the windows... but it sped off.
There were, at least, over 100 witnesses and 30 injured people.
Wasnt witness to any of the police incidents but got sprayed in Maison Blanche can only assume someone hidden somewhere in a tent near the shower block. Spoke to some others who had also been sprayed. Couldnt see for a while and really painfull, brother had it in his mouth. Beer helped ged riod of taste / sensation. If only I could have worked out who it was !!! 
We were there on Friday night, about 12ish i think. We were far too intoxicated. We saw the guy in the 355 spin it round then scarper off again. The guy in the Boxster who lost it slightly and twatted the kerb, nasty. He nearly wiped my brother and i out, it was very close. Good weekend though, we must have just missed the scuffers with the spray....
pikey said:
wasn't even aimed at the people with the water guns / encouraging people to spin it.
Those f**king idiots should have been banged up. I saw two people on go peds fall off as a direct result of being hit with water whilst going around the roundabout. I just can't see the point or mentality in shooting people with water (cars/bikes) when they are rounding a roundabout with their vehicles on the edge of adhesion and the margins being densly populated with people, it's asking for trouble. It is very dangerous and actively discourages people to put on a show for the crowds. There was plenty of fun without the water last year. Exactly how much can you see out of the windscreen when someone suddenly sprays water through your window and onto the inside of your windscreen. Think about it....i wouldn't fancy it!
There did seem a different bunch of people there this year, alot more yobs who were just overstepping the mark. The guy who threw a bottle at the police van for a start...come on WTF, as if that isn't going to force their hand. Also the guy who stopped a golf on the houx annex roundabout then stood infront of it trying to get it to burn out. The driver obviously wasn't interested and when the hords surrounded he obviously got intimidated and drove on. The guy infront got his leg run over...then had the nerve to have a go at the driver!!!
Completely spoilt it for me.
>> Edited by welshnobby on Tuesday 15th June 10:54
Getting back to the original topic, I thought the police did an admirable job considering the lunacy that surrounds them and the occasional provocations they suffered. I saw a number of things that probably would have merited a ticket at the very least that they looked very hard in the other direction..
Two events stick out that make me smile... One was the unmarked police car that was driving around between Bleu and Blanche.. Everyone saw that it was plod, as he had his little blue light on the roof. I guess everyone except the car behind him, because he waited until there was some room in front, then caned his car hard, nearly lost it, got his car literally sideways and came screeching to a skidding halt a mere inches from the police car in front. The nice officer got out and had a quick word with said driver but no ticket or anything stiffer than a warning.
The second was in the same area... One of the ever-so-helpful "event organizers" was stopping the interesting cars as always, waiting for room in front, and then letting the drivers know when they should depart in a smoke-like manner. This "organizer" was leaning into the interior of a Ferrari, giving instructions. Meanwhile, plod was coming the other direction... The Ferrari owner pointed at the police van, the "organizer" turned around... The police driver did his
. The "organizer" gestured to the police "Just once? Please?" With the facial expression of a 7-year old who has just been busted by his mother and pleading with his eyes to let him do it just one more time... Maybe you had to be there...
Two events stick out that make me smile... One was the unmarked police car that was driving around between Bleu and Blanche.. Everyone saw that it was plod, as he had his little blue light on the roof. I guess everyone except the car behind him, because he waited until there was some room in front, then caned his car hard, nearly lost it, got his car literally sideways and came screeching to a skidding halt a mere inches from the police car in front. The nice officer got out and had a quick word with said driver but no ticket or anything stiffer than a warning.
The second was in the same area... One of the ever-so-helpful "event organizers" was stopping the interesting cars as always, waiting for room in front, and then letting the drivers know when they should depart in a smoke-like manner. This "organizer" was leaning into the interior of a Ferrari, giving instructions. Meanwhile, plod was coming the other direction... The Ferrari owner pointed at the police van, the "organizer" turned around... The police driver did his
. The "organizer" gestured to the police "Just once? Please?" With the facial expression of a 7-year old who has just been busted by his mother and pleading with his eyes to let him do it just one more time... Maybe you had to be there...
Didn't see any peppering, but three mates and I had the HT leads pulled off our gopeds by a gun pointing jobsworth plod at Tetre Rouge just after the race. Was a bit sad as afterwards he appeared to be justifying it to his colleagues who obviously thought he was a prat too. Didn't spoil our fun though as we managed to fix them later on!
Yup - the dickhead count was higher than last couple of years unfortunately.
You've got to hand it to the froggy rozzers though - despite the various nabbings going there & coming back, they are normally pretty tolerant over the actual w/e. The fact is that Le Mans just would not take place in the UK - too many by-laws being broken, & councils scared of being sued.
Slightly off topic, but good fun to be in the parade with Marcos, just behind all the TVRs, who had wound up the Geandarmes good & proper! (But obviously pleased the crowd...)
You've got to hand it to the froggy rozzers though - despite the various nabbings going there & coming back, they are normally pretty tolerant over the actual w/e. The fact is that Le Mans just would not take place in the UK - too many by-laws being broken, & councils scared of being sued.
Slightly off topic, but good fun to be in the parade with Marcos, just behind all the TVRs, who had wound up the Geandarmes good & proper! (But obviously pleased the crowd...)
thequiffster said:
Yup - the dickhead count was higher than last couple of years unfortunately.
You've got to hand it to the froggy rozzers though - despite the various nabbings going there & coming back, they are normally pretty tolerant over the actual w/e. The fact is that Le Mans just would not take place in the UK - too many by-laws being broken, & councils scared of being sued.
Slightly off topic, but good fun to be in the parade with Marcos, just behind all the TVRs, who had wound up the Geandarmes good & proper! (But obviously pleased the crowd...)
In my view it was some of the marshals which we clearly annoyed, its fine that they say don't accelerate up the road...especially as your so close to the crowds but to tell us to stop rev'ing the engine's was little petty...so we just rev'ed them louder!!! lol but as your say think the crowd enjoyed us
Alan.
Alf Essex said:
Yup - the dickhead count was higher than last couple of years unfortunately.
You've got to hand it to the froggy rozzers though - despite the various nabbings going there & coming back, they are normally pretty tolerant over the actual w/e. The fact is that Le Mans just would not take place in the UK - too many by-laws being broken, & councils scared of being sued.
Slightly off topic, but good fun to be in the parade with Marcos, just behind all the TVRs, who had wound up the Geandarmes good & proper! (But obviously pleased the crowd...)
In my view it was some of the marshals which we clearly annoyed, its fine that they say don't accelerate up the road...especially as your so close to the crowds but to tell us to stop rev'ing the engine's was little petty...so we just rev'ed them louder!!! lol but as your say think the crowd enjoyed us
Alan.
Yeah.. it was a case of "does that mean slow down or rev?" [revs engine] "oops, means slow down" Lake was the one who got the crowd going... I think the wheelspinning and fish-tailing up the "start" was the key..
When I get back off holiday, I'll sort out the video footage...
Having never been to LM before, didn't quite know what to expect... ended up having a fab time, but there were one or two low points for me...
The Pepperspray incident was one of them. We were standing on the Bleu side of the 'drag strip' when it happened, and the girl who was sprayed right in the face came running straight into me. I sat with her for at least 20 minutes, and then helped her friend who was still in a state after 3/4h. He was so covered in spray that it set my face and eyes stinging just when I was trying to get him to calm down. Both of whom were just standing watching the cars.
If the french Gendarme have to resort to pepper spraying people to disperse a crowd, what does that say? They could have just asked, or at least given us a warning. I was not impressed. That would never have happened in England.
The second incident was when I was driving a friends car back to Bleu from town on the Saturday night. We were stopped twice by groups idiots trying to get me to wheel spin. Now, im sorry, but are they not the people that cause the accidents?? Standing in the middle of a country road in the dark... Shouldn't the gendarme have sorted them out instead of just watching? I guess the fact that we were two girls in a nice car didnt help much.
The Pepperspray incident was one of them. We were standing on the Bleu side of the 'drag strip' when it happened, and the girl who was sprayed right in the face came running straight into me. I sat with her for at least 20 minutes, and then helped her friend who was still in a state after 3/4h. He was so covered in spray that it set my face and eyes stinging just when I was trying to get him to calm down. Both of whom were just standing watching the cars.
If the french Gendarme have to resort to pepper spraying people to disperse a crowd, what does that say? They could have just asked, or at least given us a warning. I was not impressed. That would never have happened in England.
The second incident was when I was driving a friends car back to Bleu from town on the Saturday night. We were stopped twice by groups idiots trying to get me to wheel spin. Now, im sorry, but are they not the people that cause the accidents?? Standing in the middle of a country road in the dark... Shouldn't the gendarme have sorted them out instead of just watching? I guess the fact that we were two girls in a nice car didnt help much.
Gassing Station | Le Mans | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff