Crowds, car accidents, projectiles thrown: the hectic journey of two streamers traveling across France

From Montpellier to Paris on foot: two web stars have been embarking on a 700-km walk since September 8, broadcast live online, causing crowds and disturbances along the way. For their eleventh day of walking on Thursday, Byilhan, whose real name is Ilhan Coskun, and his partner Nicolas Trouvé, known as Nico, are crossing the city of Lyon, regularly expressing concern during their live broadcasts about the difficulties linked to the strike or overly insistent fans. In Place Bellecour, in the city center, several security agents surround them and push back, sometimes roughly, anyone who tries to approach them, AFP journalists observed, who are themselves pushed away.

"Without social security, we'd be done in," Nico says in the live broadcast, as dozens of children and teenagers follow them through the streets of Lyon. As they pass, "it's too messy," comments a police officer overheard live. Having come to meet them on the outskirts of the city, the officer had warned them to avoid the center. Every day, the live broadcast of their adventure on the Twitch platform is followed by tens of thousands of viewers, a particularly high number for content that spans many hours. With hats, football jerseys, and stuffed animals attached to their bags, Byilhan and Nico travel around forty kilometers a day and sleep at people's houses.

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They regularly encourage viewers to subscribe to Byilhan's channel, a paid gesture on which they receive a commission, while the live stream is sponsored by a brand. Byilhan is one of the most followed streamers in France, with more than 2 million subscribers on TikTok and 1.4 million subscribers on Twitch, while Nico has 1.3 million and 600,000 subscribers on the same platforms. Affiliated with the French talent agency Webedia, they host content around video games and entertainment shows. After ZEVENT , an online charity event they participated in in Montpellier and which concluded on September 7th having raised more than 16 million euros, the two young men challenged themselves to return to Paris on foot.

Since then, many fans have followed them for long distances, calling out to them, taking photos with them, or supplying them with water and food. "On foot, you really have time to see, to talk..." , Byilhan explained Thursday during his live broadcast, rejoicing at seeing his fans "in real life . " "It's the only activity where you can walk and talk, and therefore create content at the same time," he continued. But some encounters are more tense: throwing eggs and bottles, very insistent requests, threats... Clips immortalizing these moments are multiplying on social networks, like that of a young fan, distracted at the wheel, who ends up in a ditch.

Faced with a crowd of young people during their visit to Pierrelatte (Drôme), police officers had to escort them to the exit of the town, reported the daily newspaper Le Dauphiné Libéré . ​​Because these events featuring internet stars in the street, in easily identifiable places, regularly lead to sometimes uncontrolled crowd movements, as in December 2024 in Bordeaux around the influencer Nasdas. Byilhan and Nico are now dreading their arrival in Paris, in about ten days. "It's going to be hot," Byilhan said on Thursday. "Everyone will want to come," added Nico, who still dreams of ending his journey on the Champs-Élysées.