Tour de France: Police open fire on car in the Place de la Concorde
Sunday 26 July 2015 13:26, UK
Police have opened fire on a car which tried to crash through barriers set up for the final stage of the Tour de France in Paris.
The car drove away with its two occupants apparently unharmed after coming under fire in the Place de la Concorde at around 8am local time.
Hundreds of thousands of people gather in the Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Elysees for the final leg of the Tour de France, which is due to arrive there later on Sunday.
Police official Luc Poignant said officers were finishing setting up the barricades for the race when the incident happened.
A police official said: "This is a minor incident. It wasn't aimed at the Tour de France, it's not terrorism, it's just a simple refusal to comply, as there are many every day."
Tour sports director Thierry Gouvenou said he didn't have much information about the incident but didn't foresee any impact on the race.
Speaking from the scene, Sky News reporter Enda Brady said: “They fled the scene and the search is under way. Security remains very tight indeed. This just seems to be one aggressive motorist who got a lot more than he bargained for.”
Speaking to Sky Sports from Paris, former Tour winner Stephen Roche said: "I was on the Champs-Elysees early this morning when, all of a sudden, I heard bang, bang, bang. It was only a few hundred metres away. There is a lot of security on the scene now."
The final stage of the Tour de France is due to begin at 3.35pm BST, leaving from Sevres, a town south-west of Paris. The riders are then due to arrive in the French capital at around 4.30pm BST and do 10 laps around the Champs-Elysees before finishing at about 6pm BST.
A women's race, La Course by Le Tour, which also finishes on the Champs-Elysees, also went ahead as scheduled.
