Dozens of opponents of a real estate project burst into the municipal council of Cambo-les-Bains, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, on Wednesday evening. The tension escalated and scuffles broke out, giving rise to a crowd movement which ended up throwing the mayor to the ground, who was hit in the head.
The prosecution announced the opening of an investigation into “acts of violence in meetings against an elected official” The project provides for the construction of around a hundred housing units at the entrance to the town, half of which are social housing, on land occasionally used for agricultural purposes without being listed as such in official documents. A video broadcast online by Basque-language radio stations Euskal Irratiak shows several people pushing back the elected official who is searching through the crowd at all costs before falling to the floor. “Slightly injured” according to the prefecture, Christian Devèze was evacuated to Bayonne hospital to undergo examinations.