Journalists assaulted "responsible for what they suffer": a former minister creates controversy

Posted less than 24 hours ago, the tweet has been the subject of thousands of shares, often outraged. Saturday, at the end of "act 9" of the mobilization of "yellow vests", marked by new violence of demonstrators targeting teams of journalists, the former Minister Noëlle Lenoir wrote a controversial message on Twitter.

Former member of the Constitutional Council. "LCI journalists attacked by the yellow vests are responsible for what they suffer, but also what they do to the police day after day," she wrote. "They gave an air of platform to the building of violence, provocation to murder, insult and stupidity."

# # LCI journalists abused by #GJ are responsible for what they suffer, as well as what they do to #FOD day after day. They gave a platform for violence, provocation to murder, insult and stupidity.

Minister for European Affairs for two years under Jacques Chirac, Noëlle Lenoir was also a member of the Constitutional Council and introduced herself as a "lawyer". His tweet came after the publication of images showing the aggression of journalists of LCI and France 3 Normandy in Rouen, but also the story of an editor of La Depeche, taken part while she was in a car from the newspaper, and threatened with cries of "we'll get out and rape you".

A tweet deemed "silly" or "scandalous". On the social network, politics, journalists and anonymous denounced this position. "Scandalous, no journalist has to undergo this surge of violence, nothing could justify it", for example wrote the LREM MP Aurore Bergé. "This is a hacked account?" Asked the presenter Jean-Pierre Pernault. "What you read is stupid and scary."

Scandalous.
No journalist has suffered this wave of violence.
Nothing can justify it.

This is a pirated account? What we read is stupid and startling. Seeming to support morons manipulated, disheveled and disguised as yellow vests that strike journalists loosely is unworthy and irresponsible. @LCI

On Sunday morning, the former minister commented on her remarks and the reactions they generated. "Those who think that I legitimize violence and do not ardently defend the freedom of the press have not understood my concern to bring yellow vests back to their real size to protect journalists who are victims of this violence," she said. written, referring to a forum hosted by Les Echos and signed by the Committee Law and Public Debate, of which it is a part. This text denounces attacks on journalists, but also the blockages of the distribution of some newspapers.

* the hashtags of the tweets have been transcribed in full