More than a month after the resignation of the mayor of Saint-Brevin, far-right groups continue to intimidate elected officials, including that of Annecy after the knife attack perpetrated by a Syrian refugee, or that of a another locality that has given the green light to a reception centre. “We will remember you”: François Astorg, the EELV mayor of Annecy, where a few dozen ultra-right activists gathered shortly after the attack which left six injured last week, chose to file a complaint. In question: odious messages accusing him of having encouraged immigration and targeting his Senegalese mother.
Intimidation campaigns
At the other end of the country, in Bègles, in the suburbs of Bordeaux, it was the permanence of the rebellious deputy Loïc Prud’homme who appeared tagged with Celtic crosses: “Your migrants, our dead!”, Was it written .
And the tension has not subsided in Saint-Brevin, a seaside resort of 14,800 inhabitants where the election of the new mayor was marked a week ago by the presence of young ultra-right activists, who contest the displacement of a reception center for asylum seekers (CADA). These demonstrators shouted under the windows of the municipal council “Yesterday Annecy, tomorrow Saint-Brevin”, before being repelled by the gendarmes. The resounding resignation of Yannick Morez, the DVD mayor of Saint-Brevin, did not prevent ultra-right groups from continuing their intimidation campaigns, sometimes in broad daylight.
“Don’t prove them right”
On the contrary, the emblematic photo of the elected official in front of two charred cars ended up on the social networks of opponents of another CADA in a small town, whose mayor wishes to remain anonymous. His blood boiled when he discovered the comment that accompanied it: “it is ESSENTIAL for a mayor to LISTEN to the opinion of his inhabitants”, while specifying that they “do not encourage absolutely NOT this type of degradation and vandalism”.
A “disguised threat” for this elected representative of a locality of a thousand inhabitants, who confides in AFP, and whose municipal council approved the installation of a CADA at the beginning of the year, leading since many anonymous threats. He now lives under the protection of the gendarmerie, is medically followed after a recent illness and he assures that his wife “lives very badly” this situation after a demonstration ended in front of their home.
To the point that he admits having recently gone with his wife, his stomach knotted, to a dinner of the friendly fire brigade which finally took place without tension. The mayor, not listed as often in small towns, admits having considered resigning like his colleague from Saint-Brevin. “But I’m not in that perspective. I’m still not going to give them reason”, he is indignant, while ensuring that he feels protected by the State, in particular the prefecture, unlike Yannick Morez who had denounced the “flagrant” lack of support.
“Unacceptable!”
Faced with this intimidation, which is added to the attacks already on the rise against elected officials, the influential Association of Mayors of France (AMF) calls on the government to “more firmness” and to tougher penalties against the perpetrators of attacks. “whatever the origins of the violence”. “The government has not taken the measure of the situation”, deplores its PS deputy vice-president André Laignel, who regrets that “the State always has difficulty in characterizing certain demonstrations politically, in particular when it comes to of the extreme right”.
Reinforced sentences, this is what a bill tabled in the Senate, with a majority on the right, proposes, in particular by the LR president of the Law Commission, François-Noël Buffet, who recently auditioned the resigning mayor of Saint-Brevin . “Acting out is now possible with the risk of causing at least serious injury or even death. This is a recent development,” he laments, calling for an end to it.
In addition to the reinforcement of criminal provisions by Parliament, the senator expects from the Ministry of the Interior “a lot of work” in order to identify the small groups of the far right, but also of the far left which he also designates as perpetrators of intimidation or violence against elected officials. “The democratically elected authority is constantly challenged and we no longer hesitate to take action,” he laments. “It is unacceptable !”.