Municipal in Paris: Anne Hidalgo goes to the front against her rivals

The room was not completely full, but the atmosphere was there. A small thousand people gathered Wednesday evening at the Elysée-Montmartre to support Anne Hidalgo, in form and in an offensive tone, during her big meeting before the first round of the municipal elections. If she willingly attacked her rivals, classifying them without citing them in the same "backtrack" camp, the outgoing PS mayor of Paris chose to clearly commit to her left.

Read also: Municipal in Paris: careful, Anne Hidalgo stays away from the press

On the subject of migrants in particular, a heavy and very sensitive issue in the capital, in particular in the eastern districts, Anne Hidalgo was quick to accept her choice of reception. "Because I met these women, these men and these children, because I listened to their stories and heard their sufferings, because simply my conscience tells me to say it, I assume that Paris is reaching out to the refugees She said on stage. For the mayor, it is a question of "dignity", "the dignity of those who ask us for help and whom we cannot allow to survive in such conditions, but also the dignity of those and those who offer their help, and who are the most beautiful face of Paris, that of solidarity and fraternity ”.

"This Paris which is closing in on itself is not ours, it is not the one we want", she insisted, castigating the countless "flashbacks" that another vote promises than the his own, from accommodation to cars and school canteens. With a conviction that sounds like a slogan: "Public service is the heritage of those who have none".

Spikes for Buzyn and Dati

“Some would like to go back to the time when the Mayor of Paris was appointed by the central government, to the time when he was only an executor charged with administering the capital. At a time when the fate of Paris was being played out elsewhere than at the Hôtel de Ville, ”quipped Anne Hidalgo about the former Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn, candidate recently to try to save LREM after the fall of Benjamin GRIVEAUX. "Others would like a Paris between themselves, sanitize the city, reject what clutters them outside," she then swung about Rachida Dati. The candidate (LR) has just stepped up to the plate on the management of the security of Parisians by the outgoing mayor. Anne Hidalgo's response was strong, placing all the responsibility for insecurity on the back of the state.

The responsibility for the security of Parisians is first and foremost that of the State which does not assume its role

Reiterating her wish for a municipal police, Anne Hidalgo underlined that the mission of this police - "5000 agents, visible and accessible 7/7 and 24/24, especially in the evening, at night and on weekends" - "do not will not be to do the work that the national police no longer does. " "2.5%. Yes I mean 2.5%, this is the time spent by the national police on our streets, and we would like to give us lessons on the level of insecurity in Paris? ”, She said. "The explosion of crime in Paris, according to Hidalgo, is the direct consequence of the withdrawal of the police from the streets of Paris. The responsibility for the security of Parisians is first and foremost that of the State which does not assume its role ”.

She herself on stage, like her relatives on the sidelines, insisted on the need to mobilize from the first round. “The conviction of victory in the minds of Parisians can create a risk of demobilization or dispersion of voices. This is Jospin 2002 syndrome, ”said his first deputy and campaign manager, Emmanuel Grégoire. In the polls, Anne Hidalgo hovers around 24%, without any particular dynamic but with a certain assurance of the vote of votes of the ecologists in the second round.