Coronavirus: French bus driver brain-dead after passengers attack him for telling them to wear masks

Five people in custody following assault where victim lost consciousness after being repeatedly punched

Face masks are mandatory on private transport in France, where nearly 30,000 have died in Covid-19 pandemic

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Bus drivers in Bayonne, southwestern France, wait for a visit by the junior transport minister on Tuesday, two days after a colleague was attacked for refusing to let a passenger board without a mask. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:26am, 8 Jul 2020Updated: 9:59am, 8 Jul 2020

A bus driver in France was declared brain-dead on Monday after being attacked for refusing to let passengers board his vehicle without face masks, in line with rules imposed to combat the coronavirus.

A police source in Bayonne, near the ritzy Atlantic resort of Biarritz in southwestern France, said five people were now in custody over the incident on Sunday evening.

The source said the driver, in his fifties, tried to prevent a man, who was not wearing a face mask, from boarding the bus with his dog.

French Junior Transport Minister Jean-Baptise Djebbari addresses the press after meeting bus drivers in southwestern France, on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

The driver also asked four other passengers, who had already mounted the bus without masks, to get off.

Face masks are mandatory on public transport in France, where the Covid-19 outbreak has claimed nearly 30,000 lives.

The driver was repeatedly punched in an assault that resulted in a serious head injury, said the source.

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