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Cannes Director’s e-Bike Ride Ends in Scuffle With Local Cop

The road to hell may be paved with good intentions, but in this particular case, it was the sidewalk. Thierry Frémaux, the head delegate of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, learned that the hard way after he got into a scuffle with a local cop for riding his e-bike on the sidewalk.
Thierry Frémaux, director of the Cannes Film Festival, gets into altercation with police officer over his riding a bike on the sidewalk 8 photos
Photo: Twitter/Eric Morillot (Composite)
Thierry Frémaux, director of the Cannes Film Festival, gets into altercation with police officer over his riding a bike on the sidewalkVanMoof introduces S4 and X4 electric bikesVanMoof introduces S4 and X4 electric bikesVanMoof introduces S4 and X4 electric bikesVanMoof introduces S4 and X4 electric bikesVanMoof introduces S4 and X4 electric bikesVanMoof introduces S4 and X4 electric bikes
The 2023 edition of the Cannes Film Festival is now underway (in Cannes, of course), and it's not without a fair share of controversy. This time, it's not related to the films in the competition but to Thierry Frémaux, the director of the Institut Lumière and head delegate of the Cannes Film Festival, who's getting some unwanted publicity for something he did outside of the festival.

Late last week, he got into a scuffle with a municipal police officer after he was spotted riding his electric bicycle on the sidewalk outside the Carlton Hotel. Carlton Hotel is where most A-list guests to Cannes are staying and is always a busy area, even outside of the prestigious event. More to the point, though, it is illegal to ride your bike on the pavement in France, except for kids 8 years old or under.

Frémaux is long past that age, and he was riding an electric bicycle to boot, according to journalist Eric Morillot, who captured the altercation on video and then posted it online, where it immediately went viral.

Morillot says – and has video to prove it – that the municipal officer intercepted Frémaux as soon as he got off his bike at the hotel entrance and asked him to step aside to talk. Frémaux became aggressive right away, yelling that he'd been assaulted, asking for the officer's name, and urging him to go and solve real crime in the city instead of picking on cyclists.

Contacted for comment on the incident, a representative for the Film Festival said that the video was "truncated” and, as such, offered a skewed take on what happened. "In the minutes that followed, a frank and cordial explication took place, bringing an end to the exchange," says the publicist. "The chapter is closed."

At the press conference marking the official start of the Cannes Film Festival 2023, Frémaux promised he'd be riding his bicycle for the entire duration of the event instead of using the official car out of an earnest desire to reduce his carbon footprint.

His selfless gesture is overshadowed by his apparent privilege for behaving the way he did with a police officer that was only doing his job. Riding a bike on the sidewalk is illegal in France, and Frémaux should have at least apologized instead of trying to pick a fight, commenters are saying online.

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Editor's note: For illustrative purposes, photos in the gallery show the VanMoof S4 and X4 e-bikes.

About the author: Elena Gorgan
Elena Gorgan profile photo

Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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