Faced with the riots which followed the death of young Nahel, killed by a policeman, but also in the face of violence, and attacks aimed in particular at elected officials, including that of L’Haÿ-les-Roses, the president of the Association of Mayors of France David Lisnard had called on Sunday for a “civic mobilization”. He was heard. This Monday at noon, rallies took place in front of town halls, all over the country, and in particular in Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes), his city, where more than 300 people gathered to encourage “a civic upsurge”.
“More than 150 town halls, schools and libraries have been set on fire, shops are looted. But we will not lower our arms or eyes, ”said the elected LR just after the triggering, symbolic and copiously applauded, of the town’s warning sirens. These gatherings are those of a “France which wants peace, security, freedom, which knows that order precedes justice”, he also judged, before answering questions from the press and recalling in particular that the elected officials expected “action” from the Elysée.
What concrete proposals do you make to put an end to these disorders?
Things have to calm down first and they are. Thanks to the work of the police and the gendarmerie but also, by being very lucid, because the dealers themselves restore order in their sector. Then comes the repair. And it will take time. Public education must be restored. This is the first of the challenges to be met over the next ten years. We must also rearm the sovereign state. We know that there is a shortage of 20,000 prison places. We must control immigration, welcome less to welcome better. We must fight against the bureaucracy that organizes public power. Democracy is power to the people, so there must be effectiveness in public services. It is a deep work that will have to be undertaken. And it’s cross-partisan.
All good people ask that, including immigration people who make a good living. We must stop with the silliness, the sentimentality. We must find a just order, get out of forty years of lax spiral. And we have to be careful because everything that is happening now opens the way to populist adventurers and demagogues, to certain extremists. All this suggests that if democracy or the Republic is weak, those who have an anti-republican and anti-democratic discourse will one day appear as a solution. But they will only be one more problem. We must show that democracy is not weak and for that, we will also have to change the criminal justice system for minors. It is not up to the taxpayer to assume the damage on the public domain, it is up to the thugs to serve time in prison, then to repair. It is up to the parents to assume the acts when they are solvent. And if they are not, to no longer benefit from aid. We cannot have a society that helps people who destroy society. No to masochism.
You have been warning for many months about the situation of mayors who often say they are “within reach of slaps”. Has it ever been so true?
Personally, I have never used this expression because, unfortunately, it translates into action. We can clearly see the violence rising, which is one of the expressions of incivility, of the crisis of civic-mindedness in which we find ourselves. I’ve been alerting for months, even years, since 2019. One of our colleagues died after asking people to pick up trash they were throwing away [il fait référence au maire de Signes, Jean-Mathieu Michel, mortellement renversé le 5 août 2019 par la camionnette d’un maçon condamné à un an de prison ferme pour « homicide involontaire »]. All this refers to a civic disintegration whose springs are unfortunately deep. Today, that a mayor who is also a good guy, someone open, Vincent Jeanbrun in this case [le maire LR de L’Haÿ-les-Roses], is forced to barricade himself in his town hall while his home is attacked, his children aged 5 and 7 are pursued by armed thugs… Where are we? How can we accept that? How can we accept that? No one accepts except see them.
What could you say to the perpetrators of this urban violence?
They won’t listen to me, but what we can say is that we don’t accept seeing the French Republic despised, seeing France hated. We are in a country that has many faults but in which, when a police officer is implicated because he killed a driver, he is immediately indicted. He is immediately imprisoned. It’s called a rule of law and that’s a treasure. Democracy is not a weakness. So we will not accept seeing these people commit acts of barbarism. We will not allow businesses to be looted or ransacked. It is absolutely unfair.
Hundreds of people responded to your call here in Cannes. What’s your reaction ?
It’s very impressive because we launched it on a Sunday and we didn’t know if the info was going to arrive. However, these people came during the week, at noon, at a time when many were working. And that expresses everything I just said. We’re not here to whine, we’re not asking for commiseration or consolation. We don’t put candles. We don’t put stuffed animals. We are here to show that we have our heads held high, that we don’t give up, that we work hard and that we refuse fate. We refuse to be impressed by bands of thugs who let themselves go because they are convinced that they have gone unpunished and unfortunately, too often, they go unpunished.
The President of the Republic will receive Tuesday at the Elysee Palace more than 220 mayors of the municipalities which were affected by the riots. Will this meeting be of any use to you?
We will have to see with those who will be there. But, yes, it will be yet another meeting. And, I repeat, we want neither consolation, nor affliction, nor drama. We want action.