The brawl occurred in September 2021 at the Tarbes exhibition center (Hautes-Pyrénées), on the sidelines of the Tarbes American Festival. It left one dead and several injured.
Bikers involved in this fight and belonging to the Hells Angels or the Rebels, two gangs with a sulphurous reputation, are on trial from Monday morning in Bordeaux, in particular for willful violence. Prosecuted for aggravated violence and, for some, criminal conspiracy, the twelve defendants appear until Wednesday before the criminal court.
The man accused of having killed a fifty-year-old with a knife during this brawl will appear in June before the Gironde Assize Court for murder and attempted murder.
“Pretty closed world”
The trial will have to elucidate the precise causes and circumstances of this clash between these two rival motorcycle clubs. “Unfortunately, we have settling of scores between gangs quite regularly”, particularly against a backdrop of drug trafficking, explains a magistrate from the Bordeaux public prosecutor’s office. “But here, the motive seems a little different. The reason will have to be clearly established. »
“An overwhelming majority of witnesses say that the Rebels were attacked by members of the Hells Angels,” recognizes Me Alexandre Novion, lawyer for one of the defendants who was an aspiring Hells Angels. “But we never knew if it was really a matter of settling scores in relation to territories, etc. There are gray areas that still hover,” he notes, saying he hopes that the hearing will allow us to find out more about this “fairly closed world” of biker gangs.
“Propensity for extreme forms of violence”
The Hells Angels, known for their Harley Davidson motorcycles and their leather outfits, were founded in the United States in 1948 and have branches in around fifty countries. The Rebels, founded in the late 1960s, took root in Australia, before spreading across the world.
The number of motorcycle clubs in Europe has more than doubled since 2005, according to the European police office Europol, which describes a “propensity for extreme forms of violence” among certain outlaw gangs, against a backdrop of trafficking or territorial conflicts.
