a mayor violently attacked by a dozen individuals

Édouard Babel is still in shock. It is around 2:30 a.m., on the night of Saturday June 3 to Sunday June 4, when a fight breaks out in front of a village hall in the small town of Magnières, in Meurthe-et-Moselle, rented for a birthday. The mayor then tries to intervene to put an end to the evening, but the situation gets out of hand. He was first slapped before being chased by a group of about ten people. “They caught up with me to put me on the ground. I had time to put myself in a defensive position to protect myself and that’s when I took the blows again. I had the fear of my life , I thought I was going to die”, he says. The elected official, who suffers from multiple bruises, decided to file a complaint.

1,500 assaults in 2022

For several months, cases of verbal or physical attacks on city officials have been increasing. In Tarn-et-Garonne, the mayor of Montjoie is the target of threats from the far right. In Finistère, several town halls have received a racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic leaflet in their mailbox. Intimidations that sometimes go much further. The councilor of Saint-Brevin, in Loire-Atlantique, has decided to resign after the fire in his home. The association of mayors of France counted 1,500 attacks on elected officials in 2022, an increase of 15% in one year.