Demonstrations, petitions … In several municipalities, the activists of Eric Zemmour harass mayors with methods inspired by identities.
by Clément Guillou and Benoît Floc’h
After Callac, who is around? The municipality of this town in Côtes-d’Armor had, under the constant pressure of the extreme right, to abandon in January its project of reception of refugees. In his victory statement, on January 10, one of the main opposition animators on the mayor’s initiative, the reconquest candidate! In the legislative elections of June 2022 Bernard Germain, warns: “The reception will be the same” for the cities which would choose to follow the example of Callac.
If the distribution of exiles in small cities rarely poses a problem, making Callac an epiphenomenon at the country scale, the Breton town is the symbol of the cultural battle waged in recent months by the activists of Eric Zemmour , with demonstrations, digital mobilization and pressures on elected officials. Rare activism to the right of the political spectrum, which the party, with disappointing electoral results, presents as the counterpoint “to the cross arms of the RN [national rally] in the National Assembly” and which offers an outlet to its radical activists.
Undressing Christian statues by court decision; radical imams conferences; Educational or cultural initiatives on migrants or the LGBT+ community: Reconquer! sees attacks against “civilization” everywhere.
After Callac, members of the Zemmourian party and the media of the “Fachosphere” made the rumor run that this or that commune would host the abandoned project. In Paimpol (Côtes-d’Armor), the socialist mayor had to deny that she intended. Claire Masson, elected environmentalist of Auray (Morbihan), targeted by the same disinformation, plans to file a complaint: “This is a concern for democracy if groups can put pressure and guide politics,” she alerts.
emails “threatening, guilty and xenophobic”
Yannick MOREZ, mayor (various right) of Saint-Brévin-les Pins (Loire-Atlantique), is not intimidated but there are no illusions. After Callac, he expects “pressure to rise” in his town. However, the project is not the same. When Callac envisaged the progressive installation of refugee families to revitalize his town, Saint-Brevin awaits the creation of a reception center for asylum seekers (CADA), imposed by the State and endorsed by the municipality. The Cada will settle in disused buildings which adjoin the school of Pierre Autélée, stuck on a plot of pines between a campsite and the ocean.
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