“We are not here to provoke but for support”

“We are not here for intimidation: is it good for everyone?” At the time of the end of classes, a dozen large cars park in front of the gates of this college in the suburbs of Rouen. Blaya – that’s his name biker -, just recalled the rules, and everyone agreed with one voice. Blaya is vice-president of the biker association Stor Börn. “The Big Kids”, in Danish. VSn the last few months, almost everywhere in Normandy, this gang of bikers in black jackets has been gathering outside schools or colleges to support children who are victims of school bullying.

That day, these bikers solidarity came to bring strength, through their presence, to Barth and Rose*(*Names have been changed), both 14, and harassed for months by a classmate. “He hits us, he insults us on our physique, Rose explains. Me and my best friend, we can’t answer it because for him, everything is secondary. And that doesn’t make me laugh.”

The schoolboy in question crosses the portal in turn. “Don’t be afraid! There’s no point in being afraid!”, launches Alexandra, the mother of Rose. It was she who called the association for help. “We hope it will get things moving, she explains. My daughter didn’t want to say anything, because she is very withdrawn, but they are enormously scarred: she comes to school with a lump in her stomach. And me, every day, I have a lump in my stomach when I take her away because I don’t know how she’s going to come back.” “My daughter said to the headmaster, firsthand, that if he [le collégien désigné comme harceleur] was not expelled, she ‘fuck the fuck up’…”, Alexandra sighs.

As with each Stor Börn operation, the gendarmes have been informed, and provide a presence, from a distance. Also, when the college student designated as the stalker in question leaves, there is no question, however, for the bikers to go and talk to him.

“We’re not here to get into trouble, to provoke. Our mission is really just support: to come and make it visible to everyone. Because often the harassment is behind closed doors and that’s This is where things can get serious.”

Blaya, biker from Stor Börn

at franceinfo

Breaking the silence, Anthony has already done in recent months for his own daughter, in Caen, with his biker friends. And that helped, he says: “She has changed classes, has much better grades and seems much happier to us. I find it stupid to go and assault kids, but… stupid!”, he exclaims. Some took an RTT to come, he drove two hours on his Harley. “When you see this, laments the biker, it’s that the parents are not doing their job and neither is the National Education…”

The college principal does not comment. But the rectorate assures him: “We didn’t wait for the bikers to put in place protocols against harassment.” “It does not stop there: the treatment of the situation must really be a basic treatment, indicates Mickaël Merlin, secondary school inspector and responsible for the school climate at the Normandy Academy. We have what it takes internally to be able to manage situations with professionals.”

Awareness workshops have been set up in a majority of schools in the academy and National Education staff have been trained for this purpose. The bikers, they make the fight against school bullying a priority: the association created in 2018 is in its twentieth intervention before a school or college.