The brutal assault, last weekend, of the mayor of Ouges, a small town of 1,500 inhabitants located in Côte-d’Or, once again illustrates the increase in verbal or physical violence targeting municipal officials throughout the territory. .
Sunday evening May 23, Jean-Claude Girard, was walking in the street with his wife and a resident when they crossed the path of a man on a quad who was driving too fast.
The mayor made a remark to the driver and according to witnesses the violence was immediate and unheard of. A band, made up of seven or eight people, armed with crow bars, began to charge Jean-Claude Girard who was struck on the head. He got away with two days of ITT.
A tragic example among others since, according to the Ministry of Justice, there was, in 2019 alone (latest figures available), 263 cases of attack on elected officials reported.
In four out of ten cases, this concerned personal attacks. This rate even reaches 66% when the victim is a mayor.
The mayor of Bron (Rhône) insulted and threatened
Recently, the attack against Jérémie Bréaud, the mayor of Bron in the Lyon suburbs (Rhône) had also greatly shocked public opinion.
On the evening of February 24, the councilor had seen his vehicle violently attacked by a dozen individuals. Jérémie Bréaud had also been insulted and threatened.
Interviewed shortly after the facts on CNEWS, the mayor (LR) had denounced “an extreme minority of individuals who everywhere in our territories in France, spoil the daily life of the vast silent majority”. “These are people who reject the rules and values of France,” he added.
The mayor of Signes (Var) run over by a van (2019)
Another case that had upset public opinion, that of Jean-Mathieu Michel, the mayor of Signes, in the Var. On August 5, 2019, the latter was run over by a van whose occupants he wanted to be fined for having thrown rubble on the side of a road.
Aged 76, Jean-Mathieu Michel had been running his town since 1983. His death had stunned all of his constituents. As soon as the announcement of his death, several elected officials had expressed their emotion, starting with President Emmanuel Macron himself.
On September 3, 2020, Stéphane Michel, the victim’s son, lamented on South Radio the delays of justice.
The mayor of Portbail (Manche) attacked by campers (2020)
A year after the tragic death of Jean-Mathieu Michel, Francis d’Hulst, mayor of the town of Portbail in La Manche, had also been attacked.
On August 12, 2020, this 70-year-old elected official informed three campers in their twenties that a municipal decree prohibited them from setting up their tent in the beach parking lot. Francis d’Hulst had also alerted them to the dangers of starting a fire near a pine forest in times of drought.
In doing so, one of the individuals first insulted him, then threatened to set his car on fire, before hitting him in the neck and back. “But it was the blow struck the next day by the prosecution that hurt me the most,” said the mayor of Portbail, who had lodged a complaint.
The reason: his attacker had received only a reminder of the law.
The mayor of Chalifert (Seine-et-Marne) attacked by a citizen (2020)
The same summer, on August 25, 2020, Laurent Simon, mayor of the town of Chalifert, in Seine-et-Marne, was violently attacked by a citizen.
While he was driving home, around 7:30 p.m., another vehicle passed him for parking and got in the way to stop him.
The mayor of Chalifert, Laurent Simon, was assaulted for parking. Unacceptable! Dear Laurent, you have all the support of the mayors of @MarneetGondoire . @JeanCASTEX we are counting on you so that attacks on elected officials are really punished. pic.twitter.com/umN535fPeS
– Jean-Paul MICHEL (@jpm_lagny) August 25, 2020
A couple then leaves the vehicle. The husband violently attacks the mayor and the assault, filmed, will then be relayed on social networks.
Laurent Simon will get by “with ten days of ITT for a broken rib”, even if he had estimated that it “could have been much worse”.
–
–
Like many other city councilors, the mayor of Chalifert considered that there is a “feeling of impunity in France”.
“We are attacking teachers, firefighters, police officers now, we are attacking mayors,” he regretted.
–
:quality(80)/cdn-kiosk-api.telegraaf.nl/0387d120-bd2e-11eb-9504-0218eaf05005.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1 "Check on A67: man with fake Bulgarian ID card still has 24 years in Turkish prison | Inland")