Le Figaro Nice
The rag burns between the activist farmer Cédric Herrou and the mayor of his town of Breil-sur-Roya, in the valley of the same name, a few kilometers from the Italian border.
LR councilor Sébastien Olharan did not digest the latest salvo from the poultry and olive producer who targets him in a series of tweets published on X (formerly Twitter) on February 8 and 10.
Very active on the social network, Cédric Herrou reacted to the poster campaign of young LR in Breil-sur-Roya in support of farmers.
Taking up the message posted by the mayor who then welcomed the initiative of members of Eric Ciotti's party, the activist wrote:
"He is mayor of my village, baby Ciotti weaned too late, parasite inflated with pride and money public [...] Dark type of a party in ruins
.
And added two days later:
“The mayor surfs [sic] on the Storm (Alex, Editor’s note), valley destroyed, residents affected.”
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“A rare indecency”
On Thursday, Sébastien Olharan announced in a press release that he was filing a complaint against his administration for “defamation” and “public insults”.
The mayor, who says he has
“always considered
the activist with respect” despite their numerous disagreements, particularly on the themes of immigration, borders and sovereignty, assures that he cannot let such insults pass.
This
“is not part of what an elected official must reasonably accept as compensation for his political commitment
,” he declares.
He also cannot stand being taken to task over his management of the Alex disaster, in 2020. He points to “
a rare indecency
” in view of
“the human and material consequences of this disaster, and that we see the energy that we are deploying [...] to rebuild our valley
.
This is not the first time that the farmer, known among other things for having facilitated the entry into French soil of around 150 migrants through the Italian Alps in 2016, has attacked his mayor.
He had already described him as
“Eric Ciotti’s cocker spaniel”
or even accused him of racism in his latest work.
Until now, the chief magistrate of Breil had not deemed it useful to respond to him.
Faced with what he considers to be the crossing of a
"step in violence and insult"
undermining his
"honor and [his] dignity"
, the latter therefore decided to have Cédric Herrou summoned to court Nice correctional facility.
Read alsoExpenses at Nice town hall: Estrosi ordered to reveal his expense reports by an elected official close to Ciotti
Support from Ciotti
An approach supported by the president of the Republicans.
On X, Éric Ciotti assured the
“courageous”
mayor of Breil of his
“total support”
on Friday .
And to continue:
“He suffered a wave of harassment following the defamation of Cédric Herrou.
Justice must protect elected officials from this unbearable behavior!”
Further to the right, the MP (RN) for Alpes-Maritimes Alexandra Masson reacted in turn:
“It is high time that this individual stopped defying our laws and our elected officials with complete impunity!”
, she wrote on the social network.