The violence of the attack stunned to the highest peak in the state: in the night from Saturday to Sunday, a burning vehicle was launched at full speed towards the home of the mayor of Haÿ-les- Roses (Val-de-Marne), Vincent Jeanbrun. “An accelerant was found in a bottle of coke,” said Sunday the public prosecutor, who opened an investigation for “attempted murder”. The ram-car was finally stopped in its tracks by a low wall, but its objective is not in doubt: to set fire to the house in which the councilor’s wife was – injured while fleeing – and their two children. Vincent Jeanbrun was still at the town hall.
If this act is of incredible violence, it is nothing new. In 2022, the Ministry of the Interior recorded 160 physical attacks on mayors or their deputies (165 in 2021). Unlike verbal abuse, which is on the rise, this figure has remained relatively stable. But the year 2023 could change that. The pension reform had already been accompanied by a significant increase in attacks on elected officials, and the events linked to Nahel’s death seem to have taken the same path.
“Unprecedented intensity”
“We do not yet have figures on the number of attacks, says one in the entourage of Dominique Faure, Minister in charge of Territorial Communities and Rurality. What we see is an unprecedented intensity, the facts reported are generally more serious. “A firework mortar, for example, crashed into the vehicle of the mayor of Pontoise while she was driving. The city councilor of Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, himself, watched helplessly as his own burned down. In Cholet, the former mayor’s house – he had just moved – was “ransacked”. In Charly, south of Lyon, a “fire device” was found in the garden of the elected official.
While 220 mayors of municipalities victims of urban violence are expected this Tuesday at the Elysée, the safety of elected officials will be at the heart of the discussions. An exceptional fund of 20 million euros has already been announced on Monday to help elected officials equip themselves with video protection cameras. But will this be likely to reassure the first concerned?
No systematic protection
Unlike some political figures, the city’s elected officials are not subject to systematic physical protection, any more than their families. “There are 36,000 mayors in France, it would be impossible. And in the vast majority of cases not very useful, ”notes a police source. “There is no automatic protection, but the mayor is the subject of special attention, he is not a citizen like the others”, specifies the entourage of Dominique Faure.
In mid-May, however, after the fire at the house of the mayor of Saint-Brévin in the middle of the night, measures were taken to strengthen their security: creation of referents in the gendarmerie brigades and police stations to facilitate exchanges , mobilization of the Pharos platform to monitor threats on the Internet, or strengthening of the “Alarm elected” system. Thus, mayors who feel threatened must report to the police station or the gendarmerie. They then integrate a listing which allows their calls to be treated as a priority when they call 17. Rounds at their home and/or at the town hall are organized according to the level of risk. “Until now, the mayors had rather the reflex of phoning the police station directly, or even the prefect, in the event of a problem, except that it was not necessarily very effective”, insists the Ministry of Territorial Communities.
Towards a strengthening of criminal sanctions
In the most serious cases, the chosen one can be placed under police protection. This was for example the case of Christian Eugal, mayor of a small village in Tarn-et-Garonne, targeted on social networks by the far-right Youtuber Papacito. “It’s exactly the same principle as for any personality: an assessment is carried out and the response adapted”, specifies a police source.
A law to strengthen criminal sanctions will also be presented in the fall. It aims to apply to perpetrators of attacks against “the holder of a public elected office” the penalties provided for violence committed against persons holding public authority (police officers, firefighters, magistrates, etc.).