The first deputy of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins Dorothée Pacaud was elected mayor of this town in Loire-Atlantique on Friday evening after the resounding resignation of Yannick Morez, targeted by threats and violence from the far right. This 45-year-old teacher, without a label, becomes the first woman to head this seaside resort of 14,800 inhabitants. His predecessor resigned with a bang after months of tension over the relocation of a reception center for asylum seekers (CADA).
The city council meeting, early Friday evening, was held in a somewhat tense atmosphere. A dozen young ultra-right activists presented themselves in front of the windows of the municipal council brandishing smoke bombs and shouting “Yesterday Annecy, tomorrow Saint-Brévin”, before being repelled by the gendarmes. These activists were not from the town, according to the gendarmes.
The far right recovers the Annecy attack
“I expected this introduction and I was prepared for it,” Dorothée Pacaud, 45, told the press, wearing her tricolor scarf. “However, I approach the next three years with great serenity,” she added. “I think my predecessor’s word has been carried high and I am hopeful of more support”.
Former DVD mayor Yannick Morez explained his choice to leave office after the “flagrant” lack of state support since the formalization, at the end of 2021, of the transfer of this center near a school in his town. Target of threats, the attacks against him had culminated on March 22 in the early morning with the fire of two vehicles of the mayor in front of his home, the facade of which had also been affected by the flames while he slept there with his family.
Mother of three children, never inserted in a party, Dorothée Pacaud, professor of history and geography in college, was elected for the first time in Saint-Brévin in 2014. First in charge of the environment, she became first deputy in 2017. Until now, she was in charge of culture, heritage and twinning. On Friday, in front of the entrance to the municipal council, a few residents opposed to the CADA had distributed a leaflet signed by Bernard Germain, spokesperson for the “Coordination Partout Callac”, also referring to the Annecy attack. Arrested by two anti-CADA residents after the city council, she denounced a “scandalous amalgamation” with the Annecy attack, stressing that “racism is not a political opinion but a crime”.