Death threats, bullets in the mail, graffiti on the walls of the offices, homes ... While elected officials are examining this week the bill that transforms the health pass into a vaccination pass, on January 3 at the National Assembly and on the 5th in the Senate, threats and intimidation have increased in recent days against elected officials.
Lately, it is Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, Member of Parliament for Seine-Maritime, who has paid the price.
She received an e-mail threatening to behead her as a start to the year.
"I think permanently of only one thing: to come and behead you. […] The reason? Your collaboration, heads must fall, and I am ready to come and cut off your head to show my firmness in the face of your dictatorship" , asserts the sender of the mail under the pseudonym "liberteforte".
No threat will dictate how I vote.
You mustn't let anything go, don't get used to it.
Faced with this rise in violence against elected officials, it is urgent that the political class as a whole act.
It is our democracy that is in danger ⚠️.
pic.twitter.com/mudRybuEwE
- Agnes Firmin Le Bodo (@agnesfirmin) January 2, 2022
"This is the second time that I am attacked and that I file a complaint. There, it is an email which threatens to be beheaded. What will be the next step? The passage to the act? Soon, it will be too late if we do not act ", deplores the elected official to France 24." There is very clearly a climate of violence and hatred. We have the feeling that there is no longer any barrier, no longer any limit and that the words have lost their meaning ".
Serial assaults
His case is far from isolated: examples of attacks against deputies are legion. On December 28, the day before the examination of the draft law concerning the vaccination pass, about fifty deputies received an email threatening them also with death. This letter also includes the personal addresses and landline numbers of the 52 recipient deputies from five different parliamentary groups. "This is only the beginning, you will pay with your blood for the confinements, the health pass, and all the attempts to obstruct our freedoms", insulted the sender.
Full support for majority deputies threatened with death.
They are right to file a complaint against these dangerous morons.
No threat is acceptable.
We are all with you!
#maisoncommune # 5ansdeplus pic.twitter.com/RS63p6iejk
- Olivier Dussopt (@olivierdussopt) November 26, 2021
Other parliamentarians such as LREM deputy for Seine-et-Marne, Michèle Peyron, received an e-mail promising her a "massacre to come". The same macabre prophecies intended for Carole Bureau Bonnard, LREM deputy for Oise, Jean-Baptiste Moreau, LREM deputy for Creuse and Naïma Moutchou, Horizons deputy for Val-d'Oise. "You only deserve a burst of bullets at your home and have your head cut off," warned another unnamed author. A little earlier, Pascal Bois, LREM deputy for Oise, who had first found a bullet in one of his mail, saw his garage and his car set on fire, in addition to hostile inscriptions tagged on a wall .
‼ ️‼ ️‼ ️ Many of us elected to receive death threats and intimidation in an attempt to influence our votes.
Let us give nothing to those who would like violence to take precedence over discussion in public debate.
It is democracy that is at stake.
pic.twitter.com/MLbwsDK4vJ
- Naïma Moutchou (@NaimaMoutchou) January 2, 2022
How to explain such violence? For Jean Guarrigues, historian and political scientist contacted by France 24, the increase in violence does not date from the health crisis: "They date back several years now. The yellow vests crisis had already given rise to certain forms of verbal and physical violence, especially against elected officials. It is in fact a much deeper phenomenon which illustrates the divorce between a large number of citizens and elected officials and the government. We tend to lose common sense, the cement of our societies. countries where the 'me' has more and more weight, it becomes more and more difficult to make citizens adhere to a common project, including when it comes to a national solidarity project. it is a work of national solidarity. "And the professor continues: "More generally, this violence perpetrated against elected officials reflects an endemic mistrust vis-à-vis powers whatsoever: political power, media, health, economic, etc."
06:55
A growing phenomenon
To stem the phenomenon, meager solutions exist. The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, asked the prefects to provide police and gendarmerie patrols to carry out rounds at the homes and offices of elected officials. In his letter, the minister explains in fact that the parliamentary debate relating to the vaccination pass is "likely to give rise to threats or even acts of action against elected officials". Video protection measures were also taken to protect the surroundings of these hotlines, also indicated the President of the Assembly Richard Ferrand who also lodged a complaint. The latter also promised to make a point in January with Gérald Darmanin and his counterpart from Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti, in order to "check that the complaints are followed by research and see where the justice is because the perpetrators of these misdeeds must be punished ".
Faced with the degradation and threats to elected officials of the Republic, I sent firm instructions to the prefects to strengthen their security and ensure the processing of complaints to find the perpetrators.
No bullying will be tolerated.https: //t.co/bFtWKD27Xr
- Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) December 30, 2021
For their part, elected officials ensure that they have no other choice than to publicize these attacks and file a complaint. "I thought carefully before posting the letter of death threat on social networks. I do not want to advertise to these people but it is important to publicize these attacks to denounce a phenomenon that always seems to go further ", considers Agnès Firmin Le Bodo. "I am not afraid for my little person but I am worried about the excesses of our democracy. It is becoming urgent that the political class as a whole act. It is indeed our democracy which is in danger". In the face of violence, the parliamentarian believes it is necessary to launch a democratic debate. "Everyone should be able to feel that they are heard. No one should feel aggrieved, frustrated."Especially in this upcoming election period.
#RTLMatin Several dozen complaints have been filed by deputies in recent months for threats and intimidation.
I will make a precise point in January with the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of the Seals to examine the follow-up given and the sanctions taken.
pic.twitter.com/oaez0I2bfu
- Richard Ferrand (@RichardFerrand) December 30, 2021
A presidential campaign under pressure
This context of violence foreshadows an electoral campaign under high tension, believe some elected officials such as Ludovic Mendes, a walking deputy from Moselle, also threatened with beheading. The elected official particularly fears physical attacks. "I am afraid that this campaign will go badly, we have seen in some meetings a presence of violence. People no longer tolerate each other, no longer respect each other," he told Franceinfo. A feeling shared by Agnès Firmin Le Bodo: "If the epidemic does not come down during the campaign, it is to be feared that this climate of violence will worsen".
Obviously, abounds Jean Guarrigues, "the health crisis will have a definite impact on the election, first of all on its organization. Without being able to organize meetings, the campaign will be deported to the media. And the question of the balance sheet. of the management of the pandemic will be a central question. It is clear that the subject focuses and crystallizes a lot of opposition. "
And to conclude: "The health crisis has highlighted the bankruptcies of the State in the hospital sector, in particular. The candidates will have to answer it. It is a completely new episode in our history. There has never been a comparable situation before. Even during the Spanish flu in 1918-1919. "
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