Stormy start to the regional campaign in Occitania.
This Sunday, the head of the LR list Aurélien Pradié accused on Twitter his opponent of RN Jean-Paul Garraud (ex-UMP), as well as his campaign manager, of having insulted and physically attacked him after a debate recorded on Friday and broadcast this Sunday on France 3 Occitanie.
“The debate was heated because I am not giving in to the idea of an alliance between the right and the far right.
When I left the studio, I heard Jean-Paul Garraud say:
This guy is an asshole, I was told that he was a little idiot,
”testifies Aurélien Pradié, who says he then approached Jean -Paul Garraud and having explained to him "calmly, but firmly, that I will not allow myself to be insulted".
Insults disputed by the candidate of the RN - "I may have thought of it but not said" - but confirmed by Laurent Dubois, one of the two journalists who animated the debate.
At the end of a debate on FR3 Occitanie, RN JPGarraud and his campaign manager sank into insult and physical aggression.
Journalists and security had to intervene.
Surrealist.
The varnish cracks quickly.
These agitators deceive the voters.
The sterile dead end.
- Aurélien Pradié (@AurelienPradie) March 21, 2021
Once in the hallway, the tone does not drop between the two men.
"He shook my arm, was totally insane, I felt he was losing control," explains Aurélien Pradié, also secretary general of LR.
"He was just as disagreeable as me," replies Jean-Paul Garraud, who denies any intention of physical violence.
But the tension is sufficient so that Laurent Dubois, fearing that a punch does not leave, intervenes between the two men.
False and unfounded accusation.
Like its author.
https://t.co/0af7vrBcir
- Jean-Paul GARRAUD (@JPGarraud) March 21, 2021
The continuation takes place in the entrance hall of the chain in Toulouse where the campaign director of Jean-Paul Garraud, Gabriel Robin, would have in turn taken the arm of Aurélien Pradié by saying to him: "You, it is necessary that you calm down ”, according to the story of the young deputy LR.
"He just told him:
Hold on
", assures for his part Jean-Paul Garraud.
Here again, the situation is such that Laurent Dubois calls a security agent and asks him to push back the campaign director of the RN.
Things then calm down.
"It went live, it could have turned into a bad news item", slips a witness of the scene, employee of France 3.
For Aurélien Pradié, his interlocutor, "supposed to be the incarnation of the RN proper on him, has lost his nerves".
"On the far right, they are always the same, they do not support the debate," he concludes.
"Storm in a glass of water", according to the RN for whom Aurélien Pradié, in a delicate position in the polls, "seeks to exist".
