His desire to return his tricolor scarf sparked an outcry and a wave of support from elected officials of all ranks. In a serious tone, Yannick Morez, various right-wing mayor of the town of Saint-Brevin (Loire-Atlantique), returned on Wednesday May 17 to the circumstances of the announcement of his resignation last week and again deplored the lack of support. of the State towards him, during a hearing organized by the Senate Law Commission, Wednesday, May 17. He will be received at Matignon at the end of the day this Wednesday, by the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, and by the Minister Delegate for Local Authorities, Dominique Faure, who is to announce in the evening a vast plan to better prevent violence against elected officials.
The city councilor made the decision to return his mandate more than a month after the arson attack that targeted his home. For several months, he has been the target of threats and intimidation from far-right activists, against a background of contestation of a project to transfer a reception center for asylum seekers (CADA) to his town.
His resignation has not yet been recorded by the prefecture, but the elected official repeated it during his hearing: “I will not go back, I have decided [to resign]”. “I thought it through,” he elaborated. “My children tell me to stop everything, my wife no longer wants to stay in Saint-Brevin, since the person [responsible for the fire] has still not been arrested and [that] she does not want to meet her when she does his races,” he said, while hoping he “has managed to shake things up to prevent this from happening again.” “I will not reconsider my decision. »
“Disappointed”
Returning to the chronology of events, from the establishment of the CADA “imposed by the State” in 2016 until the late uprising of opponents helped by the arrival of far-right activists, he notably mentioned a public meeting organized on February 10, 2022 in his municipality, in the presence of the sub-prefect of the department and the commander of the gendarmerie.
Accompanied by his first assistant and his education assistant, Mr. Mourez said they were then “very disappointed and shocked” at the response they received from the authorities, as they shared their concerns. concerns about the growing climate of threats in the commune.
“The sub-prefect simply told us: ‘You know, I get threats every day’; the gendarmerie commander [has declared:] “You know, it’s not much, it’s only threats, intimidation, there’s no point in filing a complaint, we won’t do anything anyway, it’s freedom of speech,” he testified.
Contacts “that never ended”
With this episode, “we realized that we found ourselves totally destitute, alone, abandoned by the services of the State, and that we were going to have to continue to face the rise in power of this collective which no longer represented Saint -Brevin” but brought in “extreme right groups” unrelated to the municipality, added Mr. Morez.
“When I spoke about the lack of support from the state, it was blatant,” he further argued, saying that, in the context of CADA implementations, “my fellow mayors have important relationships with the prefecture, whereas we haven’t had this kind of thing.”
The state’s response also did not improve after the arson attack on his home. “The prefect, I’ve had him twice on the phone since the fire, and the sub-prefect I’ve had on the day of the fire and never since,” he said. “All the letters I sent to the prefect, to the sub-prefect, the contacts we had at the gendarmerie, it never came to fruition, since we didn’t even have a return to the various letters,” he said. he then added in front of the press.
The prefect “lies shamelessly in public” according to him
Mr. Morez assured during his hearing that the prefect of the department, Fabrice Rigoulet-Roze, was lying when he claims to have organized public meetings. “From a prefect, lying outright in public is still important. He represents the state. He knows very well that he did not organize a public meeting, we have all the evidence. Just ask him (…) the date, he will not be able to provide one, he has not made one, ”said Mr. Morez.
Regarding the fire that was started at his home on the night of March 22, the elected official finally clarified that he “was the victim of a criminal attack”, repeating that it was this attack that led him, with his family, to make the decision to return his scarf.
Faced with his detailed testimony, the senators all deplored the lack of state support, like the chairman of the commission, Philippe Bas (Les Républicains), who declared that “all these failures [of the State] are outrageous through and through.” “We had asked that, when attacks were detected, a crisis unit led by the prefect be immediately set up. It’s not up to you to take the initiative,” he said.
At the end of his hearing, the chosen one explained that he intended to “stop everything, take [his] boat and leave”. “I’m going to leave France, maybe I’ll come back, I’ve planned to take a trip to go at least to Polynesia. »
Request for hearing from local authorities
Reacting to the mayor’s testimony, the chairman of the law commission, François-Noël Buffet, said: “I want to hear the local state authorities. It is imperative that we understand why there was no follow-up to the mayor’s requests. »
“By submitting his resignation, Yannick Morez has made a difficult decision in his soul and conscience. We can only regret that he was led to make this choice. And naturally, we respect it,” Elisabeth Borne told the Senate during the government question session.
Since the start of this affair, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, has remained relatively discreet, referring to Dominique Faure, even though he is the hierarchical superior of the prefects.
Asked this Wednesday on France Inter, he argued that the gendarmerie and the sub-prefect had gone to see Mr. Morez. “Perhaps we haven’t been there enough to protect elected officials,” he agreed.
