It is 6 p.m., the butterfly lands on his tricolor scarf as he speaks on the steps of his town hall in Saint-Brevin-Les-Pins. “I did not expect so many people, so a big thank you”, launches, moved, Yannick Morez to the some 3,000 people who came this Wednesday to support him. “Abandoning them is not easy,” continues the elected various right, surrounded by his municipal team.
After two of his vehicles and part of the facade of his house were set on fire on March 22, Yannick Morez announced his irrevocable decision to resign and leave town with his family. The reason for this violence? The transfer near a school in his town of a reception center for asylum seekers (Cada) which already existed in Saint-Brevin since 2016.
Yes to migrants, out the fachos
On an activist placard
Something to irritate Florès, 83, who gives French lessons to migrants every morning in this center where “there has never been a problem”. “If the far right says such unworthy things about migrants, it’s because we don’t know them and we don’t want to know them,” is indignant this resident of Saint-Brévin, not politically enlisted, crossed a little earlier during this support march, initiated by the Socialist Party (PS) and the Association of Mayors of France (AMF).
Around Florès this Wednesday afternoon, citizens hold up signs: “Yes to migrants, out the fachos”, “Darmanin responsible”, “Migration is not a crime” or “Far right = extreme danger”. But also trade unionists, association activists, and dozens of elected officials… especially on the left.
The absence of the right and the macronists
“I called everyone and wanted it to be a cross-partisan initiative,” assures the national secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure. Without success. “On this subject, the Republic must speak with one voice”, he regrets, calling for “to rebuild the widest possible republican arc”. “We must put a sanitary cordon against the far right. To leave these behaviors without reaction is to give a license to hate and to use violence against our elected officials”, completes a few meters further the president of the environmental group in the National Assembly, Cyrielle Chatelain.
Ihe democracy and the Republic, we have it in common
Jean-Luc Melenchon
The absence of the right and the macronists? “They were welcome, they made the choice not to be there. » For what ? “You have to ask them the question”, responds the Insoumis deputy François Ruffin for whom, on the contrary, being present is “in the order of evidence, a kind of ‘it goes without saying’”.
Same thing for Jean-Luc Mélenchon: “We are all here to show that we are holding on and we want to demonstrate. We are on the left, the mayor is on the right, but we have democracy and the Republic in common. »
Yannick Morez did not participate in the march
In a press release published on Tuesday, Yannick Morez said “to regret the political recovery, in particular by the far left, of this march which was intended to be transpartisan”, as well as “the discretion of the right”. “It is disappointing to see that political divisions cannot be overcome on a subject as important as that of violence against elected officials”, he also wrote, explaining that he would not take part in the march. “I did not wish to participate in the march. I wished there was no political participation and as it was taken over by some political parties... I wanted to remain completely neutral,” repeated Yannick Morez this Wednesday.
I did not come to recover or argue, but to support him
Marine Tondelier
No question for those present in Saint-Brévin to make a subject of it. “I respect his feeling, it is necessarily legitimate. I did not come to recover or argue, but to support him, ” evacuates the national secretary of Europe Ecology-The Greens, Marine Tondelier. “He’s not a guy from our side. I understand that he is a little uncomfortable, I don’t blame him, believes Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
On Twitter, socialist Jérôme Guedj reacted to Yannick Morez’s speech:
1) Dear Yannick Morez, by paying homage to you in the hemicycle, I did so as a citizen, an activist of a political party which was thus able to be elected deputy. Political parties are not a dirty word. Without them and their presence, this gathering would not have taken place. https://t.co/iFTMVcrkrT
— Jerome Guedj (@JeromeGuedj) May 24, 2023
“There are, in this square, women and men from the left, from the centre, from the right who, individually, have assumed their responsibilities; there are political organizations that have taken their responsibilities,” argued the president of urban France during one of the rare “official” speeches of the day. “Supporting Yannick Morez means supporting democracy, the Republic. (…) Never again should a mayor feel alone”, she continued, adding: “Yannick Morez was the honor of the Republic. » To a long round of applause.
