Barely three days after the fatal assault of a bus driver in Bayonne on July 5 for demanding to wear a passenger's mask, a bus driver in Gaillac (Tarn) was threatened with death for the same reasons . A measure, however, mandatory in public transport. Shocked, the driver filed a complaint and the 53-year-old man was arrested on Thursday.
The 52-year-old driver refused access to her bus to a traveler who refused to wear her mask, reports France Bleu. The man, already well known to the gendarmerie services, then insulted the driver and threatened her with death, before fleeing.
Placed in police custody, the man had already been sentenced to a three-month suspended prison sentence for aggravated theft. He was suspended for three months. Suspension suspended by the Public Prosecutor of Albi who sent him to the Albi prison. He will appear in court on July 31.
Elisabeth Borne considers that we must continue to wear the mask in public transport "as long as we don't have a vaccine" pic.twitter.com/9DnEArOFwa
- BFMTV (@BFMTV) June 22, 2020The refusal to comply with the rule of wearing a mask in public transport was also at the origin of the violent assault of Philippe Monguillot, bus driver in Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). The 58-year-old father died on July 10, after five days of coma, from his injuries.
Since the beginning of the deconfinement on May 11, the wearing of a mask is compulsory in public transport for travelers from 11 years old and offenders are liable to a fine of 135 euros. Former transport minister Elisabeth Borne warned on June 22 that this measure could last until next November: "The wearing of the mask will remain compulsory in the four months after the end of the state of emergency".