Rumel Ahmed, Paris, 4 May 2021

Porte de la Chapelle, in the 18th arrondissement, on the northern edge of Paris. That is where the journey of Rumel Ahmed, a cycle courier for Uber Eats, ended on Tuesday 4 May 2021. At that exact spot, at 61 rue de la Chapelle, his path crossed that of a lorry. A fatal collision that ended his life.

Rumel was one of the many couriers who shoot through the streets of the capital, braving the dense and sometimes chaotic Paris traffic to bring meals in a matter of minutes.

On that spring day, Rumel was hit by a lorry in circumstances that remain unclear.

On Monday 10 May 2021, six days after the tragedy, a silent march brought together those who wanted to honour his memory. Setting off from the scene of the accident, rue de la Chapelle, the procession made its way to place de la République, the symbol of Paris’s social struggles. A last symbolic journey for a man whose daily rides had come to a brutal end.