A deputy insulted and beaten in his office in Perpignan. The attack on the elected representative of the Republic on the march Romain Grau took place last Saturday, during an anti-vaccination pass demonstration. Far from being an unfortunate but isolated event, this attack on an elected representative of the Republic is part of a broader phenomenon of violence. A problem that The Parliamentary Channel (LCP) has decided to tackle head-on with a special broadcast.
This phenomenon of violence against elected officials is indeed increasingly common in France: between 2020 and 2021, the number of attacks on elected officials in France jumped by 47%. What alerted Brigitte Boucher, the co-host of the show. “It was obvious for The Parliamentary Channel, because we are a political channel and also a citizen channel”, she explains at the microphone of Europe 1.
“It is therefore our duty to highlight and denounce this violence against elected officials. We are in constant contact with the deputies on the ground, in the constituencies”, she recalls. “And so we are among the first witnesses to this violence. We have filmed the deputies who have been worried over the past two years, and we have seen the extent of this phenomenon.”
93.6% of MPs threatened or attacked in three months
This physical and verbal violence has been further amplified since the beginning of the year with the discussion, then the vote on the vaccination pass. But, contrary to what one might think, the elected representatives of the majority are not the only targets of this violence.
“540 deputies have reported attacks, intimidation or threats to the National Assembly since November 2021. 540 out of 577 deputies. It’s almost the entire hemicycle”, supports the journalist. “So we cannot say that only the majority is worried. There is now violence against elected officials in almost all political groups. It is a rejection and total mistrust, it goes beyond the ‘anti-parliamentarianism’.
Faced with this growing hostility, Myriam Encaoua will welcome on the set several deputies and specialists who will come to debate on the show. For her part, Brigitte Boucher will conduct interviews with political figures in an attempt to find solutions to this problem. The show is broadcast live Thursday evening from 8:30 p.m. on LCP.