“Liberty”, “fraternity”. For ten days, the word “equality” has been missing on the pediment of the town hall of Grues (Vendée). The mayor, Gilles Wattiau, himself decided to cover it with a black tarpaulin in order to protest against the lack of access to healthcare on its territory. “The right to health is supposed to be egalitarian throughout the territory and it is up to the State to ensure this,” he explained in the columns of West France.
A symbolic action that did not please the prefect of Vendée, Gérard Gavory. In a letter sent on Tuesday, he asks the mayor to “urgently remove the tarpaulin affixed to the motto of the Republic”, in the name of “respect for the neutrality of public services”, reports France Blue Loire Ocean. “It is not possible for you, in your capacity as mayor, to mobilize your police powers or the Republican symbolism to make an intentionally polemical speech”, continues the letter.
Gilles Wattiau had already been talked about a few months ago by signing an order prohibiting his constituents from being born or being sick in the town of Grues.