In a telegram sent to the prefects, Tuesday, the Minister of the Interior wishes that particular attention be paid to the homes and permanences of the elected officials.
Le Monde with AFP
The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, asked the prefects to be vigilant to the safety of local elected representatives and parliamentarians in a telegram, dated Tuesday, November 9, and consulted by the France-Presse Agency ( AFP).
“The elected officials, and in particular parliamentarians, are the subject of the last weeks of threat messages, which are addressed directly to them or via social networks,” writes the minister. In recent weeks, the Tours prosecutor has opened an investigation after sending to four elected, including the Mayor of the City, Emmanuel Denis (Europe Ecology-Les Verts), anonymous letters accompanied by a bullet.
The member of the dear Loïc Kervran and his colleague from the Rhône Thomas rudigoz , members of the The majority also announced that they filed a complaint on 21 October, after receiving a message referring to British MP David Amess, fatally stabbed during a parliamentary permanence the previous week.
Increased monitoring of Domiciles and Permanences
“No intimidation, and a fortiori no violence, with regard to the elected officials is tolerable,” says Darmanin in his message. He invites the prefects to “strengthen surveillance on the edge of the parliamentary permanence as well as their homes as appropriate”. The “hate messages” spotted on social networks will also have to be reported “as soon as possible” at the Pharos platform – which aims to facilitate the reporting, by Internet users, of illegal content.
The Ministry of the Interior has identified 1,276 threats or aggression against local and national elected officials in 2020, with a very sharp increase compared to the 421 recorded the previous year, according to an estimate communicated to the laws Committee of the National Assembly. Among the incidents, 505 mayors or 60 parliamentarians have been physically aggression, and 350 mayors or deputies were outraged. In addition, 68 domiciles of elected officials and 63 private vehicles have been targeted.
In the majority of cases, the facts are not the subject of judicial consequences: only 315 affair cases for elected representatives, for 349 victims, were recorded at the Criminal Affairs and Graces Department. justice between the end of 2018 and February 11, 2021.