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Cédric Herrou in the studio of "20 Minutes" on November 8, 2020. -

Emilie Petit / 20 Minutes

Eleven police custody, six searches, one indictment and several trials.

What to calm the most heated spirits.

But not that of Cédric Herrou.

"I experienced it as if someone told me 'go on, shut up!'

".

In 2016, this farmer from the country of Nice came across a family of migrants from Africa, lost on the Franco-Italian border, in the Roya valley.

It is pitch black and the winding road has no sidewalks.

Frightened at the idea that they might be mowed down by a car, Cédric Herrou then decides to stop and hitchhike them.

“The first time, actually, I didn't really know it was the first time,” he recalls.

This is what a border looks like.

pic.twitter.com/UWSV1zwFNs

- Cédric Herrou (@CedricHerrou) December 14, 2020

Tried but never condemned

Several trips followed between the church of San Antonio, in Ventimiglia, Italy, and his land on which he set up shelters and organized meals so that everyone could have their fill.

“When I saw all these kids in this church, barely 20 kilometers from my house, I said to myself that I couldn't stay like that without acting,” he says.

Several times arrested and manhandled by the police and local elected officials, but never convicted, Cédric Herrou has not stopped fighting.

“Thanks to our actions, we were able to denounce state irregularities,” he explains.

The prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes has, in fact, been condemned on numerous occasions for “infringement of the right to asylum” by the administrative court of Nice.

When Cédric Herrou was released each time, until obtaining, in 2018, the consecration of the "principle of fraternity" by the Constitutional Council.

“For me, migrants are a reflection of our own existence,” he analyzes.

They embody poverty, what is also called "France from below".

And I saw myself.

I saw myself, us.

Because migrants embody us ”.

Society

"We must not be fair in the dispute, be rebels with two balls, even if I am one", loose Cédric Herrou

Justice

Aid to migrants: After the consecration of the "principle of fraternity", Cédric Herrou once again in court

“Change your world” by Cédric Herrou, ed.

Les Liens qui Libéré, in bookstores since October 14th.

  • Society

  • Video

  • 20 minutes video

  • Italy

  • Nice

  • Migrants