Lille (AFP)

The campaign room of Minister Gérald Darmanin, head of the municipal list in Tourcoing (North), was tagged Sunday by demonstrators hostile to the use of 49.3 to adopt the pension reform, we learned from concordant sources.

At the call of the CGT, several dozen demonstrators gathered in the afternoon in front of the town hall of Tourcoing, of which Mr. Darmanin is currently first deputy after having robbed the town hall of the PS in 2014, before go to the campaign room of the Minister LREM of Action and Public Accounts.

They then tagged "49.3" with red paint on the metal curtain of the room and affixed CGT stickers to it.

Gérald Darmanin denounced on his Facebook page "personal attacks" and an "intimidation" action, the "second" against his local.

"Some have yelled insults at me, others have threatened to go to my home. These methods are unacceptable. Everyone should condemn them in a democracy," he said.

"My political opponents" have "many participated in these odious meetings," said the minister-candidate.

"I regret that they choose insult and show of force to be heard (...) Being anti-Gérald Darmanin will not give more jobs in the city, more security, more environment, more schools, "he added.

"We only participated in a march against the use of 49.3," said Katy Vuylsteker, EELV candidate, to AFP. "We were stopped at a distance from the premises" by the police and "no candidate witnessed the deterioration of the premises," she added.

"Mr. Darmanin smokes and wants to break sugar on his competitors. He does not seem very serene. We would prefer to hear him on the passage in force of 49.3 which he had denounced when Manuel Valls l had used, "said Ms. Vuylsteker.

In February 2015, Gérald Darmanin, then UMP opposition MP, said on Twitter: "More than 330 deputies elected on the left and Valls threatens him with 49.3 to pass the Macron law. The permanent blow ... What amateurism "

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced Saturday afternoon that the government was using article 49.3 of the Constitution to have the pension reform passed without a vote.

His local campaign in Le Havre was tagged and scarred a few hours later.

© 2020 AFP