Like the entire French political class, Jean-Baptiste Hamonic (MoDem), mayor of Villepreux (Yvelines), was quick to condemn the attack suffered by the family of Vincent Jeanbrun, 39. Around 1:30 a.m., a vehicle intended to catch fire entered the enclosure of the mayor’s pavilion of L’Haÿ-les-Roses, setting fire to the gate and a family vehicle. His wife broke her leg while fleeing with her two children aged 5 and 7. Young elected (30 years old) and mayor in Ile-de-France like his “colleague”, Jean-Baptiste Hamonic calls for a strengthening of the security of mayors.
You know Vincent Jeanbrun personally, we imagine you moved…
We have the opportunity to sit together on the Amif (association of mayors of Ile-de-France). We had the opportunity to rub shoulders in the region when I was an employee, I ran into him again last week. I am scandalized and upset by what happened in his town, as I was by the events at home and in La Verrière, where two schools went up in smoke in working-class neighborhoods. After schools, town halls, shops, the personal home of an elected official, regardless of his political color… A red line has been crossed, which calls for firm answers.
With this current climate and this aggression, do you, the elected officials, feel sufficiently protected by the State?
Frankly, no, we are not protected enough. Personally, I have never felt physically in danger since the beginning of my mandate, but that does not mean that it cannot happen. As an elected official, we are not asking for preferential treatment compared to citizens or police or firefighters, for example, who need to be safe just as much as we do. We would just like special attention to be paid to us in the current period. Before the urban violence, the Prime Minister had to make announcements on the subject. We hope that will be the case soon.
I don’t have a crystal ball. Perhaps the urban violence will settle down in a few days or a few weeks, but if no fundamental problem is addressed, we will just have to wait for the next violence. We need a collective response and an emergency plan. It is a time bomb and a fragmentation of society.
The president of the association of mayors of France called for rallies Monday after the attack in L’Haÿ-les-Roses, in all town halls. On a more local scale, have you planned any actions?
I will organize a rally on Monday, 12 noon, in front of my town hall. We must show our unity, our firmness and call for an end to this madness and a return to civil peace. We will try to speak with a common voice within our intercommunality. I am also a member of the association of small towns in France [Villepreux fait 12.000 habitants]we meet exceptionally tomorrow [lundi]. What works well is the solidarity between elected officials. We exchange a lot by messages between colleagues.
*The Intercommunality of Saint-Quentin in Yvelines brings together 12 municipalities and 230,000 inhabitants