Talk of the danger of the far right in France has returned to the fore after extremists burned the house and property of the mayor of a small municipality in the west of the country, and they are still on the run, and are likely right-wing.

A report published by the French site "Mediapart" confirmed that the house of Yannick Moriz - Mayor of the municipality of Saint-Pervine Les Bains - was severely damaged by the fire, while the fire destroyed his car and his wife's car completely, and without the help of neighbors, the fire would have caused human losses.

Soutien total au maire de #SaintBrevin Yannick Morez. Ces violences graves, et menaces, sont intolérables et insupportables. Leurs auteurs doivent être identifiés et condamnés. https://t.co/j9mrZebbWi

— Johanna Rolland (@Johanna_Rolland) March 22, 2023

Threats

According to the report, Mayor Morez has received several threats recently because of the municipality's embrace of a project to establish a reception center for migrants seeking asylum, which provoked the indignation of the extreme right.

At the end of last month, a gathering of right-wingers took part in a rally rejecting the project, with demonstrators carrying the flags of the "war of restoration", while they were met by a mass rally of residents and activists supporting the establishment of a reception center for asylum seekers.


Philippe Grouse, president of a local association concerned with social support, said that the attack on Mayor Yannick Morez is incomprehensible, because the project to establish the center is the project of the French state, and was carried by the conservative, and stressed that supporters of the extreme right do not slander attacking activists in NGOs that care about immigrants.

Enforcement order

Le Monde newspaper paid attention to the incident and called in an editorial on Friday to protect all elected supporters of asylum seekers and strictly enforce the provisions of the law against anyone who tries to attack them.

Le Monde reported that supporters of the "La Reconquête" party, led by right-wing extremist Eric Zemmour, had succeeded last January in forcing the municipality of "Calac" in northwestern France, to abandon the project of integrating refugees through demonstrations and a war of defamation on social media platforms of elected officials supporting the project.


According to the French newspaper, supporters of Eric Zemmour's party have been looking for a repeat of the same scenario in other regions, including the municipality of Saint-Perfen-les-Bains.

The newspaper stressed the importance of beating with an iron fist by anyone who violates the law and promotes hate speech and hostility to asylum seekers and migrants, and spoke about the need to dismantle hate speech and destroy the elements of misinformation on which it is based.

In its editorial, Le Monde also called for the support and encouragement of all elected officials and NGOs activists who support and encourage respect for the rights of refugees, and help them integrate smoothly into French society, as stipulated by law.