The prefect of Hérault, François-Xavier Lauch, announced his intention to refer the matter to the public prosecutor after comments made by a participant in the pro-Palestine demonstration on Saturday, November 4, in Montpellier. In a video published by Licra (International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism), we see a man, equipped with a megaphone, qualifying the Hamas attack of October 7 against civilian populations as “an act of resistance”, to loud applause.
Comments described as “abject” by the mayor of Montpellier, Michaël Delafosse (PS). “October 7 was a pogrom killing civilians, women and children,” underlines the councilor. Senator Hussein Bourgi (PS) announced that he had contacted the public prosecutor “on the basis of article 40 of the Penal Code”. “Any constituted authority, any public officer or civil servant who, in the exercise of his functions, acquires knowledge of a crime or misdemeanor is required to give notice without delay to the public prosecutor,” specifies this article of the Penal Code.
“Hamas propagandists believe they can accomplish their sinister work in complete freedom,” Licra recalls. This public apology for terrorism, during a demonstration in Montpellier, will not go without a legal response. » The prefect blames the organizers of this demonstration. “I had written to the organizers (…) to ask them to prevent this type of comment,” he underlines. I regret once again that the commitments requested (…) were not kept.” On several occasions, the state representative attempted to ban pro-Palestine demonstrations in Hérault, orders overturned by the administrative court.
“A blown-up incident”, according to one of the organizers
Sunday evening, the Hérault Free Thought Federation, one of the twenty-nine organizers of the demonstration, clarified that the “remarks [tenus par cet individu] “are only his own responsibility and are not those of the organizers of the demonstration”, without however condemning them. ” The demonstration […] brought together 4,000 people and everything went very well, as the police services on site noted and as the MP present Nathalie Oziol (LFI) publicly noted. We are therefore surprised that an incident involving an individual isolated after the dispersal of the demonstration could be highlighted in this way. »
“Mr. Prefect, your indignation over isolated comments can be considered legitimate,” said Alban Desoutter, secretary of Freethought of Hérault. But we can also be surprised that the government that you represent does not seem more outraged than that by the 9,000 atrocious deaths of civilians, including 4,000 children, to such an extent that this same government still does not call for a cease-fire. fire, implicitly approving the ongoing bombings. »