Another day of campaigning this Friday. And how many more incidents? This period between the two rounds of the early legislative elections in Val-de-Marne is marked by tensions that are erupting in several constituencies of the department between the opponents or their teams. The sign that this second round is high risk. Nothing comparable, however, to the attack on the team of Prisca Thevenot, the government spokesperson, in Meudon (Hauts-de-Seine).
This Thursday, the torch was particularly burning in the 1st constituency. Sylvain Berrios (LR), the mayor of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, who came second, behind the candidate Lyes Louffok (NFP-app LFI), announced that “a complaint will be filed and all measures taken to ensure that republican order is respected in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, where these unworthy acts occurred.”
Photo of baby held by Hamas hostage snatched
By “unworthy acts”, he means the tearing down that very morning by “a former opposition municipal councillor, a close supporter of the LFI candidate”, of “the photo of a baby, a Hamas hostage for seven months”. “How can Lyes Louffok, who claims to defend the cause of all children, accept such behaviour? In his eyes, don’t Jewish children have the right to be protected in the same way as others?”
Lyes Louffok, who discovered these actions “on social networks”, announced this Thursday evening that this activist had been “suspended from the campaign team and the local group of Ecologists”. “I absolutely do not endorse such maneuvers”, warns the candidate invested by LFI but who is not a member. While emphasizing “not knowing all the activists” of his campaign. There are said to be more than 800 of them.
But above all, the defender of children’s rights, and known as such, recalls that “these children deserve dignity, the display is necessary to alert people to their fate” and that he has always spoken out “for the release of the hostages and for a ceasefire in Gaza.”
Lyes Louffok sees “excitement” in his opponent
As for the “illegal gathering in the form of a roadblock in the street”, which was allegedly organised by his deputy and municipal opponent, Céline Vercelloni (Les Écologistes), “she’s not the type to do that”, he replies. She simply filmed and relayed it on her networks”.
And Lyes Louffok sees in these “lies” a certain “feverishness” of his opponent. “Let him have a good herbal tea and after a good night’s sleep, he will be better.” He prefers to concentrate on his campaign, which he closes this Friday evening with Jean-Luc Mélenchon in Champigny.
A little later this Thursday, in Bonneuil-sur-Marne, it was the poster of the candidate of the National Rally Anne-Gaëlle Sabourin that was the subject of an incident in front of the Eugénie-Cotton school. The mayor Denis Öztorun (PCF) who revealed the facts in a press release at the end of the day, refuses to “let hatred pass” and calls for “restraint and not to fall into the trap of provocation and hatred”.
According to the elected official, the poster-posters allegedly “molested and verbally attacked two mothers who reacted”, “shocked” to have seen them “jostling children on the forecourt”. They then allegedly removed the RN poster. This was followed by threats from the far-right team, including towards city officials. The activists allegedly said: “We’re going to clean up… in any case, all that’s over… it’s the FN that’s going through”, before returning “hooded”. The mayor indicated that these mothers were going to file a complaint. An event mentioned live this Thursday evening on the France 2 set, by MP Clémence Guetté (LFI), re-elected in the 2nd constituency.
Asked early in the evening, Anne-Gaëlle Sabourin “totally contests” this version of events, supported by a member of her team. The RN posters are said to have filmed the events, a video that Le Parisien requested but did not receive.
According to the candidate, there was no “shoving of children”, no “threats”, no “hoods”. Anne-Gaëlle Sabourin admits to having told people that “it is forbidden to remove posters from election billboards, it is worth a fine”. She also promises to file a complaint. “Everyone must respect the rules. All our billboards are vandalized. We were insulted and one of our teams was attacked last week”.
The mood is not much better in the 8th constituency. The first round campaign had already had its share of incidents. This week, it seems that this is still the case, according to an activist who was allegedly the victim of intimidation.
“Racist, sexist and homophobic insults”
And even in the neighbouring constituency, the 6th, around Vincennes, the climate has reached “unacceptable heights”, according to candidate May Bouhada (Les Écologistes). In an open letter addressed this Wednesday to both the mayor of Saint-Mandé and her opponent, the outgoing MP Guillaume Gouffier Valente (Renaissance), the deputy mayor of Fontenay-sous-Bois reveals that “racist, sexist and homophobic insults are becoming commonplace towards activists of the New Popular Front”. Julien Weil, the LR mayor, does not wish “to react and play the game of this destabilisation campaign which fools no one. The violence does not come from us”.
May Bouhada also mentions “leaflets snatched from people’s hands”, “physical threats”, “posters defaced”… So many acts which, in her eyes, come from the opposing camp: “The fear of losing (…) cannot allow everything.”
But it seems that the presidential majority is also subject to such acts. According to Guillaume Gouffier Valente, this climate has lasted “for several months” and the European campaign. He also reacted on social networks. He “condemns all attacks committed against activists” and stands “alongside” all those who want to file a complaint. This is what he also told his opponent, he told us.
The outgoing MP has seen his office damaged several times, including in recent days. Name-calling, poster damage and other things are increasing. “This Thursday morning, our posters were all taken down in Vincennes, whereas the night before we had put everything back together,” he explained this Thursday evening, after a pasting operation. After the attack by Prisca Thevenot’s team, he wants to be “with” his activists.
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