Several offices of elected officials were targeted during the weekend, after the triggering of article 49.3 on the pension reform and on the eve of the examination of motions of censure tabled by the opposition.
In Nice, the permanence of the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes and president of the group Les Républicains (LR) in the Assembly, Eric Ciotti, was stoned to push him to vote the motion of censure, denounced the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes on Twitter, supporting photos.
“Last night my duty was rocked. The thugs who did this want to use violence to pressure my vote on Monday, ”wrote the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes on Twitter, photos in support. It shows one of the windows in pieces and the inscription “the motion or the pavement”. He filed a complaint and an investigation was opened, the prefecture told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Mr. Ciotti received the support of his camp, but also of elected Renaissance or leftists such as the socialist Jérôme Guedj. But for the leader of La France insoumise (LFI), Jean-Luc Mélenchon, “Mr. Ciotti is very badly placed to complain”, because he had not condemned in the past degradations of LFI offices.
“Obviously none of us can approve of attacking a parliamentary office. But if you don’t want violence, accept democracy,” Mr. Mélenchon added during the “Grand Jury RTL, Le Figaro-LCI” program. The president of the LR affirms him: “Never will I give in to the new disciples of Terror”. In a press release, he accuses the “rebellious”, who “legitimize by their speeches and their actions, this unacceptable violence”.
In favor of the much-contested pension reform, Mr Ciotti said his party would vote “none” of the no-confidence motions tabled against the government, so as not to “add chaos to chaos”. But a handful of deputies from his camp have announced that they will at least vote for the cross-partisan motion presented by the independent group LIOT.
A hanged man drawn on a permanence of the majority
Other pro-reform parliamentarians have been targeted since Thursday. The permanence of the senator of Pas-de-Calais Amel Gacquerre (Centrist Union) was tagged on Friday. A hanged man was drawn on that of Renaissance deputy Guillaume Gouffier Valente, in Val-de-Marne, AFP noted on Sunday.
The public prosecutor of Colmar, Catherine Sorita-Minard, also confirmed to AFP the opening on Saturday March 18 of an investigation for “intimidation of an elected official”, after degradations on the permanence in Colmar of the deputy from Haut-Rhin Brigitte Klinkert. Inscriptions such as “you vote against us, we will remember it” were affixed to it, the newspaper L’Alsace reported.
Renaissance MP Karl Olive testified that he came to the RMC studio on Sunday, under police protection, after threats. “Protesting is a right. Destroying is a crime” and “I want a steady hand,” he said.
As of Thursday evening, the patroness of the Renaissance deputies, Aurore Bergé, had asked the Minister of the Interior to “mobilize the services of the State” for the “protection of parliamentarians”. “I don’t want us to have MPs, whoever they are, who tomorrow fear the use of violence so that in the end their vote changes,” she repeated on the show on Sunday. “Political Questions” for France Inter, France Televisions and Le Monde.
