- A Jacques-Chirac courtyards and a statue of the former president were inaugurated last week in Nice.
- Municipal election candidates saw this as an inappropriate act.
- Two fingers of the statue were torn off.
Two fingers less and controversy on social networks. The inauguration, last Saturday at the entrance of Old Nice, of a Jacques-Chirac course and a statue in the image of the former president, has since provoked various reactions.
From the municipal candidate Benoît Kandel (CNIP) first. As of Monday on his Twitter account, the former first deputy of Christian Estrosi argued that "the inauguration 'Chirac' will have cost 2.1 million euros to the people of Nice". The figure stated corresponds in fact to the cost of the overall rehabilitation of the park city, this entrance to Old Nice, including 900,000 euros for the town hall of Nice and the rest at the expense of the city.
"A link between the electoral calendar and this inauguration"
Wednesday, Benoît Kandel returned to the charge on the date of this meeting organized just over a month from the municipal elections, with great fanfare, in the presence in particular of Claude Chirac, the daughter of the former head of state . "The real question in this case is whether this inauguration is linked to the electoral calendar or not? Personally, I tend to think that there is indeed a cause and effect link between the electoral calendar and this inauguration, which is ultimately very political, ”he said.
Solicited by 20 Minutes , the candidate-mayor's camp disputes. “The city does not stop living because there is a countryside. The mayor will be mayor until the end. The inauguration of the Jacques-Chirac course is part of a work schedule in Old Nice, announced and started a long time ago, argues the city. We inaugurated the Place Pierre-Gautier, now the Cours Jacques-Chirac and it will then be the Cours Saleya. "
"Undertaking and normalization of corruption"
On the merits, the choice of Jacques Chirac also made Mireille Damiano, the head of the Viva list, react! (PCF, FI, Ensemble and GénérationS). For the lawyer, the inauguration of the course and a statue bearing the effigy of the former president, "sentenced to two years suspended for embezzlement, illegal taking of interests and breach of trust [participates] d 'an unacceptable enterprise of trivialization and normalization of corruption'.
At the same time, it was an act of vandalism that touched the statue. On Wednesday morning, two fingers were torn off the statue. With what motivations? For the moment, mystery. However, the city indicates that it has "the images of the authors thanks to video surveillance cameras", and specifies that they were "transmitted to the police". A complaint was filed Wednesday and "everything will be repaired this Thursday," said the municipality.
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- municipal
- Elections
- Jacques Chirac
- Christian Estrosi
- Nice