Two defendants could face up to five years in prison after spate of incidents in country’s rural south-west

Two men accused of driving up to cyclists in rural south-west France and pushing them into ditches for fun have gone on trial in Toulouse for organised violence and could face up to five years in prison.

The two men, aged 20 and 22, were arrested last year after a spate of cyclists being pushed off their bikes on quiet country roads. One victim told the newspaper La Dépêche: “It was April … I’d gone out on my bike for the afternoon. When I got to a little country road … I felt a car was following me silently. It was driving very slowly behind me when it could easily have overtaken me. Then after a few minutes it drove up beside me. The car’s passenger suddenly pushed me down.”

Another man described being on a weekend cycle ride with two friends when a car pulled up beside him and the passenger allegedly reached out a hand and pushed him into a ditch.

At least 12 cyclists were hit over a period of several months, some sustaining injuries including a wrist fracture and a collar-bone fracture.