Why was this barbecue on the tram tracks?

A few months ago I came across a photo on Twitter showing a barbecue along tram tracks, with a hotplate full of sausages sizzling away on top. So where was the photo taken, and what was the story behind it?


Photo by DelegueLata on Twitter

The barbecue looked cobbled together, just sitting on top of a small set of rail wheels.


Photo by DelegueLata on Twitter

The tweet was posted on May 15, and the caption being in French was my first lead.

Donc les cheminots ont fabriqué un barbecue roulant adaptable au rails du tramway pendant leur manif. Ils sont très forts.

Which translates to:

So the rail workers made a rolling barbecue that could be adapted to the tram rails during their protest. They’re very strong.

And one of the follow up tweets pinned it down to France.

C’est le même écartement entre rails SNCF et tramway, c’est donc un outil détourné !!

It is the same distance between rails SNCF and tram, so it is a hijacked tool!

Further searching online brought me to a photo posted on Reddit on May 14, showing the same event from a different angle.


Photo by nerdastic on Reddit

Where a poster by the name of OoRenega asked:

Mais c’est à Nice ça non?

But it’s in Nice, no?

To which ElWeedoHermano replied:

Absolument, sur l’avenue Jean Médecin!

Absolutely, on Avenue Jean Médecin!

With the location pinned down, I headed over to Google Street View, where I soon found the same ‘Promod’ store seen in the background of the original photo.

As well as the ‘Bocage’ and ‘Crocs’ stores in the background of the photo posted to Reddit.

With the location and date, I was also able to find this news article by the France 3 Provence-Alpes network.

Railway workers demonstrated in the center of Nice on Monday “without train”

Laurent Verdi with AFP
Posted on 14/05/2018 at 15:15

Around 800 people, employees of SNCF and workers from other sectors demonstrated Monday in Nice against the reform of the SNCF. The demonstrators blocked a time the entrance of the town hall of the city.

Nearly 90% of the staff of the SNCF are on strike Monday in Nice according to the unions. Management also recognizes a particularly difficult day.

In Nice, a general meeting of the staff of the SNCF took place Monday morning at the initiative of the inter-union near the central station. About 400 people were present to discuss the social movement.

At the end of the general assembly, a procession of 800 people , according to the unions, marched in Nice to demonstrate against the reform of the SNCF. This procession was made up of SNCF staff and other sectors as well as political activists.

The protesters left the central station, went up Avenue Jean Médecin, to finish in front of the town hall of Nice as shown in this report by Nathalie Morin and Yannick Fournigault.

The network also posted footage of the protest.

In which I found the same tramway mounted barbecue that started my search.

Mystery solved!

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