A deputy mayor of Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis) was violently beaten in the street on Wednesday, December 20, Agence France-Presse (AFP) learned on Thursday from police sources and the municipality, in a context of increasing violence against elected officials.
Around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, the 6e deputy mayor of Saint-Denis, Mathieu Hanotin (socialist), Oriane Filhol, was leaving a work meeting when she felt herself being followed in the street by several men. Caught, the person in charge of women’s rights solidarity issues for the municipality was subjected to a brush before being kicked in the head and body. His attackers fled. Injured, the delegated departmental advisor “has no fracture or excessively serious injury”the Saint-Denis town hall told AFP.
If the motive for the attack is not “not clearly established” as it stands, according to a police source, the attack could be linked to her status as an elected official, according to the Saint-Denis Town Hall, an aggravating circumstance in criminal law. “A complaint was immediately filed and the ongoing investigation will determine the exact motives for this attack, which appears to be closely linked to her commitment as an elected official”according to a press release from the municipality.
“Cowardly aggression”
Due to the sensitivity of the investigation, it was entrusted by the Bobigny public prosecutor’s office to the specialized territorial security service. No arrests had taken place at midday.
“The commitment of the elected representatives of Saint-Denis to carry out their mandate is total. Nothing will turn back their determination. The perpetrators of this cowardly attack must be apprehended as quickly as possible and punished by the courts.”reacted the Saint-Denis Town Hall in its press release, expressing its “strong emotion”.
The attack on the deputy mayor sparked numerous reactions of solidarity and indignation in the political spheres of the department.
The constituency deputy, Stéphane Peu (PCF), denounced a “heinous act”. “To attack a woman alone in the street who is returning home is undignified and cowardly”, he said in a press release. The mayor of the neighboring town of Aubervilliers, Karine Franclet (UDI), estimated on that“an elected official attacked, it is the Republic that is injured”while his counterpart from Saint-Ouen, Karim Bouamrane (PS), said to himself ” shocked “.
A demonstration of support will be held on Friday at 6:30 p.m. in front of Saint-Denis town hall.
Violence against elected officials is a sensitive subject which has gained momentum in recent months. Public opinion was marked by the arson at the home of the mayor of Saint-Brevin (Loire-Atlantique) and the car-ramming attack which targeted that of his counterpart in L’Haÿ-les-Roses ( Val-de-Marne) during the summer riots.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, attacks against elected officials are expected to increase by 15% in 2023, after an increase of 32% in 2022.