A doll hung on a wooden gallows with a rope. Instead of her face, a photo of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, all placed on the front of a CGT truck. This photo, which has circulated a lot on social networks, was taken on the sidelines of a demonstration once morest the pension reform this Saturday in Marseille.
Stéphane Séjourné, secretary general of the Renaissance movement, tweeted last night, denouncing “incitement to murder”. He also urged the leader of the CGT Philippe Martinez to condemn this “abject staging”, and this “unambiguous”.
Protesting is a fundamental right.
By inciting hatred or violence, we weaken it and sully our social pact.
This abject staging, which is neither more nor less than an incitement to murder, calls for an unambiguous condemnation of Philippe Martinez. pic.twitter.com/x6RObwTpwQ
— Stéphane Séjourné (@steph_sejourne) February 11, 2023
Marc Fesneau was also indignant, evoking a “despicable and pushes to crime in the literal sense of the term”. The Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty also expresses his indignation on the blue bird network. “To minimize is to accept. It is to become an accomplice. It is to legitimize violence as a means of expression”, warns the member of the government, before insisting a little more: “one day they will say: we had not seen. We, responsible on all sides, we see. And we denounce, as democrats, ”thunders the minister.
Despicable and leads to crime in the literal sense. To minimize is to accept. It is to become an accomplice. It is to legitimize violence as a means of expression. One day they will say: we had not seen. We, responsible on all sides, we see. And we denounce, as democrats. pic.twitter.com/Xvs6rOt8vb
— Marc Fesneau (@MFesneau) February 11, 2023
Marie Buisson, candidate for the succession of Philippe Martinez at the CGT, was questioned on this subject this morning on the morning of franceinfo. Asked regarding the acts of “anger”, she points to the government’s responsibility: they “push for more violent gestures”.
Quiet processions
This episode comes in a context of strong tensions in the Assembly, where the deputies are currently debating the pension reform. The rebellious Thomas Portes had been excluded this week for 15 days from the hemicycle following having tweeted an image where he staged his foot on a ball bearing the effigy of the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt, figurehead of the project of retirement law. The chosen one had refused to apologize and withdraw his publication.
Like the previous times, the parades on Saturday took place generally in calm, apart from a few incidents in Rennes or Paris. 10,000 police and gendarmes were mobilized, including 4,500 in the capital, where eight people were arrested, according to a provisional report.