His ribs are causing him so much pain that he will have medical examinations during the day. Laurent Simon (SE), mayor of the small town of Chalifert, re-elected last March, was violently assaulted on Monday around 7:30 p.m., when he was returning home.
“For some time now, there have been neighborhood quarrels over part of rue Charles-Vaillant. A citizen does not support that the neighbors park in front of his house. Given the traffic concerns on this axis, I tolerate parking on the sidewalk and he therefore thinks that I am responsible for his problems, ”rewinds the first city councilor.
The man put pebbles on the sidewalk
Two weeks ago, the citizen in question even had rocks placed in front of his home in order to prevent others from parking there. "I filed a complaint for illegal occupation of the public domain and a formal notice to remove these stones", adds Laurent Simon.
Monday evening, the mayor is in his car when he sees the inhabitant in question and his wife overtake him. “She was driving and she put her car across to block me. He got out and banged on my vehicle. He told me that it was my fault that on Sunday evening his car burned down in his garden, explains Laurent Simon. I told him we were going to talk but as soon as I got out of my car, I received a punch in the face and then others, especially in the ribs. "
More than 200 attacks on elected officials in 2020
The assault was filmed. The facts, of incredible violence, are indisputable. And according to the mayor, the man would then attack another neighbor, a municipal councilor. The latter and the mayor filed a complaint in the evening. "We are living in a great time ... We can hit the mayor like that," laments the first city councilor.
An aggression which confirms a very unfortunate trend across the country. Since January, 233 elected officials have suffered an act of violence against 198 on the same date in 2019, an increase of 14%. In a letter sent on August 13 to the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher (LR), had made himself the spokesperson for these elected officials calling for "a strong, rapid and dissuasive reaction from the State ”and the establishment of an“ action plan ”.
A few days earlier, the president of the Senate Law Commission, Philippe Bas (LR) had also called in Le Parisien for "a government plan for the safety of mayors", pleading for the creation of support units in the prefectures and for the automatic assumption of legal costs by the State.