The First Secretary of the PS Olivier Faure said on Saturday “in deep disagreement” with Jean-Luc Mélenchon on his position vis-à-vis urban violence, during a meeting of socialists in Lyon.
Invited to the summer days of the minority current of the PS “Debout the Socialists”, fiercely opposed to the left alliance Nupes and LFI, the socialist leader defended the alliance with LFI, while acknowledging that he had deep differences on the riots that have shaken the country since the death of young Nahel, killed on Tuesday by a policeman.
“We are right to call for calm and a return to civil peace,” he told the hundred or so activists present, while the rebels are accused of not condemning the violence sufficiently firmly.
He was interpellated in particular by the former deputy Patrick Menucci, who considered that the PS could not continue the Nupes alliance: “We have the feeling that LFI missed the blow of the revolution with the yellow vests, with the pensions, and that they say to themselves, we are going to bring about the convergence of struggles with the neighborhoods”, he lamented.
“Do we have to talk to everyone? Yes, all the time, even in times of deep disagreement, and the current moment is a moment of deep disagreement,” replied Olivier Faure.
For him, if the starting point of the riots is “an anger that must be heard and to which we must give a response”, “we cannot give the feeling of encouraging and accepting violence”.
He said to himself “so that we can restore civil peace immediately, so that we can then respond quickly to the question of the loose links” between part of the population and part of the police.
But Olivier Faure “does not think we have crossed the republican barrier” with LFI, he then clarified to the press.
“I am both really in favor of a unitary approach within Nupes, but that does not force me to be aligned,” he added, lamenting being constantly forced to define myself in relation to the rebellious tribune.
01/07/2023 19:06:17 — Lyon (AFP) © 2023 AFP
