After the controversy, the threats. The mayor of Carnac (Morbihan), taken to task after the destruction of menhirs in a commercial area of his commune, said Friday to AFP that his home had been placed under the protection of the gendarmerie following threats and insults.
"We're going to find you, we know your address, we're going to set you on fire... Olivier Lepick says he has received dozens of messages of insults and threats on social networks, as well as his wife and children, since the controversy around the destruction of the menhirs erupted. He planned Friday night to file a complaint after the "dumper of hatred" that was unleashed against him.
"Damage was committed last night"
An amateur archaeologist from Carnac had claimed on June 2 in a blog post that about forty small menhirs had been destroyed recently in a construction site of a DIY store. Brittany's Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (Drac) said the archaeological interest of the menhirs, discovered during excavations in 2015 in two old fences covered with coppices, was not established. According to the elected official, "damage was committed last night" on the site of the site, illustrating the violent turn that the controversy around the menhirs has taken.
I dedicate this press release from the DRAC and the archaeological services to all those who knew, smeared, insulted, including my wife and children, on social networks without knowing anything about a file less simple than it seemed. pic.twitter.com/XzgoY8z7uL
— Olivier Lepick (@OlivierLepick) June 7, 2023
"The sub-prefect, on his own initiative, decided to set up surveillance of my house and I admit that it reassured me," says the mayor of Carnac. The gendarmerie makes regular rounds around his home, as for the mayor of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins after the fire at his home, he explains.
"This area should have been the subject of an archaeological prescription"
Mr. Lepick also deplores a media hype with sensational headlines and misleading photos. "People think that we have made a DIY store in the alignments when it is a craft and commercial area that is 3 km away, in which there is already a gas station, the garbage dump and a supermarket," he insists.
The photograph of the so-called 39 menhirs, in fact 4 (and still without scientific certainty!) unfortunately destroyed it is true, in the artisanal and commercial area of Carnac 2.5 kilometers from the alignments and whose highest measures 60 centimeters. pic.twitter.com/IY0Dm3QOBO
— Olivier Lepick (@OlivierLepick) June 9, 2023
The mayor acknowledges "that there was an administrative error" but "this ball is not the fact of the municipality" which respected the legislation according to him. "This area should have been the subject of an archaeological prescription, which was not the case, so everyone agreed to issue the building permit, including the DRAC," he said.
