A march in support of the resigning mayor of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins, Yannick Morez, is organized on Wednesday. The testimonies collected on the spot make it possible to understand the succession of events until his resignation.
Yannick Morez accuses the State of having abandoned him, and the mayor of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins is not the only one to have received threats and intimidation. It is a whole gear that led to his resignation on May 9, while a support march is organized on Wednesday May 24. Opposition to the project of a Center ofwelcome asylum seekers (Cada) begins in October 2021, when the State chooses Saint-Brévin to welcome a new Cada. The location of this center worries some local residents and parents of students at the Pierre Attelée elementary and kindergarten school, located just next door. They decide to found a collective in March 2022. Leaflets are then distributed. It is said in these tracts that “the presence of many African men right next to the school could be a source of insecurity problems“. The League for Human Rights (LDH) has also filed a complaint for “incitement to hatred and racial discrimination“.
>> Far-right demonstrations, “despicable leaflets”, fire: these months of harassment which pushed the mayor of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins to resign
Emails are also sent to parents of students, who receive them on their personal addresses, as explained to us by Philippe Croze, president of the Collectif des Brévinois attentive et solidaires, an association that helps migrants. “There are intimidating and threatening emails that are sent to parents of students telling them that if they do not take a stand against this reception center, they will be responsible for the possible rape of their children. And then there was also the director of the school who was implicated. I myself have received some not so nice things in my personal mailbox. It’s a message that means: we know where you live and be careful.”
Threats and progressive radicalization
So there are threats, emails, leaflets and a first demonstration, on October 15, 2022. Cn that day, Fabrice Merrachi, who was one of the opponents of the setting up of the reception centre, took the floor and renamed this centre, which was to welcome single men and families seeking asylum, “gang rape center”. Fabrice Merrachi confirms and assumes these words. “I said it personally: in such a remote place, in the middle of the forest, decently, you don’t mix women and children with a population that, in fact, is frustrated. Yes to reception, but not here, in the kindergarten, we do not welcome women and children next to men.” When it is pointed out to him that these men are not necessarily future rapists, he concedes that it is not a question of doing “a generality”. So why this expression “gang rape center” ? “Listen, replies Fabrice Merrachi, the future will tell us. Because I don’t want it, I tell you, but when you put the wolf in the fold, it’s not about crying afterwards.”
Fabrice Merrachi also confirms that to amplify the opposition to this project, his collective is appealing to the National Rally. Members of Marine Le Pen’s party are present at the second demonstration, in December. But two months later, for the third demonstration, at the call this time of the party of Eric Zemmour, the RN decides to move away. Finally, sign that the movement is becoming radicalized, the flags of Reconquête themselves disappear when far-right groups, Action française, Rassemblement vendéen or Riposte laïque, make their appearance during the last demonstration, a month ago, after the fire of the cars of the mayor of Saint-Brévin, just in front of his house.
The cycle of violence
This pattern can be found in other municipalities where there are reception projects for migrants or asylum seekers. The most glaring example is in Callac, in the Côtes-d’Armor, where the mayor had to abandon his project in April. For many associations that help migrants and follow these different files, there are many similarities. For France Terre d’Asile, all this stems from “of an organized and violent strategy of the far right aimed at terrorizing elected officials who engage in welcoming foreigners”. VSThis is also what Philippe Croze assures from Saint-Brevin. “I spoke with the mayor of Callac. At the time, he had not yet made the decision to withdraw the project. But he told me what he was going through. There are similarities Initially, there may be a handful of local people who have roots on the far right, but in fact, we can see that it fits into a national strategy of Reconquest, in particular, which exploits all the places where migrants will settle, either through a private initiative or a municipal initiative, or through the establishment of a new Cada.“
Is the Reconquest party an accomplice? Does he add fuel to the fire? Arnaud Clémence, his departmental delegate in Loire-Atlantique, believes not. “I register in false. I find that the trial that is being made is political, to silence us. Let us talk about the subjects that concern the French. If you cut the floor to these parties, inevitably, it should not be surprising that one day, it is violence that takes precedence. This is what we all have to fear because a violent society is a society that favors the strongest and often the most dishonest..”
Reconquest, like all the opponents of the Saint-Brevin-les-Pins reception center we met, condemns the violence and the fire. For the moment, the investigation by the local gendarmes, supported by the Nantes research section, has not led to any significant progress. At this point, according to the public prosecutor, “No one was arrested.”