Le Figaro Nantes
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The town hall will be exceptionally closed this Wednesday, May 24 from 16 pm". And for good reason. On this sunny day, the seaside resort of Saint-Brévin-les-Pins, in Loire-Atlantique, was once again on the front page of the national news. "We'd be fine. We no longer make figures on days like this, "confided to the Figaro a merchant of the city, a few minutes before a march of support organized to support the mayor Yannick Morez, at the center of attention since the announcement of his resignation after the fire of his vehicle and part of his house. About 3000 people, politicians, citizens, associations, unions, from the area and from all over the France, had made the trip.
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I didn't expect to see so many people to support me. For a week, I have been caught in a media whirlwind, "said the edile, from the steps of his town hall, at 18h, recalling that the aggressions against elected officials had increased by 32%. A figure "underestimated" because the interested parties do not file a complaint "since anyway nothing is done behind" according to him. Already heard in the Senate last week, Yannick Morez, dressed in a floral shirt, insisted on the lack of support from the state. "It is important that we have support from the authorities when it comes to a state project," he said, echoing the move of the reception center for asylum seekers, the starting point of tensions in the city of 14,000 inhabitants.
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Yannick Morez, in front of the town hall of Saint-Brévin, Wednesday, May 24. SEBASTIEN SALOM-GOMIS / AFP
Listened attentively, the mayor at the end of his reign did not wish to participate in the march organized an hour before to support him: "I wished to remain neutral". This rally was organized at the initiative of Johanna Rolland, the mayor of Nantes, who had a long applause for the mayor at 17 p.m. "He was the face, in values and in actions, of the Republic of everyday life, of the Republic of reality. [...] The one who, on a daily basis, is there to serve the inhabitants, "said the number 2 of the PS, the first to speak, followed by Maurice Perrion, president of the association of mayors of France of Loire-Atlantique. "The violence against elected officialsis enormous," abounded the one who has also been mayor of Ligné for 28 years. The centrist was keen to highlight the presence of "elected representatives of political tours": "everyone does it according to his convictions, march or not march," he said freely, without wanting to politicize the subject. He also praised the involvement of the gendarmes and the police, earning him a whistle by part of the crowd.
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The far right questioned
Johanna Rolland, she did not mince her words: "there is here, a particular context in which the extreme right has played a role that I refuse to pass over in silence". Yannick Morez has indicated several times that he has received threats from the extreme right in connection with the future reception center for migrants. An investigation is underway to find those responsible for the arson attack at his home but no arrest has yet taken place.
Many personalities of the left and extreme left had also made the trip, such as Jean-Luc Mélenchon, François Ruffin, Olivier Faure, Sandrine Rousseau, Aurélien Taché, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, Louis Boyard, Marine Tondelier... "We are all here to show that we stand firm and we want to make a demonstration. We are left-wing, the mayor is right-wing but democracy and the Republic we have in common," the Insoumise leader told AFP. The ecologist deputy Sandrine Rousseau, who came to demonstrate against the "violence of the extreme right", for her part saw with a positive eye the presence of the various leaders of the left and the extreme left, presaging "the consolidation of a political alternative".
"I regret that from Renaissance to the Republicans, they did not choose to come and that they sought to sulk"
Olivier Faure, boss of the PS
The boss of the socialists Olivier Faure regretted that "from Renaissance to the Republicans, they did not make the choice to come and that they sought to sulk". At the same time, the president of the Pays de la Loire region Christelle Morançais, various right, denounced in a statement "the extremes, right and left, without distinction, who sow the storm hoping to reap the rotten fruits of division and hatred", after deploring the rise of violence in politics.
Philippe Croze, president of the Collective of attentive and supportive Brévinois, and defender of the establishment of the Cada near a school next December, was there to "talk about the substance of the problem", that is to say the reception of migrants. An observation shared by Philippe and Catherine, originally from Saint-Joachim, about ten kilometers away, who came to "support and protect immigrants". "We must welcome them and defend people's right to live. We are humanists." At the end of the demonstration, an 84-year-old man who came to attend the event nuanced: "We give them 400 € per month. Meanwhile, we are dropping French people who are in the m****..." "Some are against, some are for," summarized the native of Saint-Brévin. A topical debate, at a time when Les Républicains have just sent a letter to Emmanuel Macron to urge him to consult the French on the subject of immigration.
Jean-Claude Raux, ecologist deputy of Loire-Atlantique, was present. He had already participated in marches organized in Saint-Brévin several weeks ago in favor of the Cada. LT/Le Figaro
Elected officials, citizens, trade unions... were gathered on the market square at 17 p.m. LT/Le Figaro