It is by a tweet posted at midday, showing him all smiles with local elected officials cutting a tricolor ribbon, that the Minister of the Interior announced his trip.
"Inauguration of the new city center of Gruson in our beautiful metropolis of Lille with the mayor," he wrote in the caption of the photo.
The day before, while several calls for "casserolades", these demonstrations of opponents of the pension reform, had been announced to welcome him in Gruson, the ministry issued a statement denying this trip.
"Contrary to what is sometimes indicated by mistake, Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior and Overseas, will not go to Gruson, in the North, this Saturday, May 6, 2023," said this statement broadcast on Twitter by the prefecture of Hauts-de-France led by Georges-François Leclerc, one of the minister's relatives.
"Precision: there was never any question that he comes," added in another tweet the prefecture.
"Bah then we hide? We publish fake news to the prefecture and the Ministry of the Interior because we are afraid of the people and their pots?" asked the Lille citizen collective L'Offensive on Twitter.
According to La Voix du Nord, the façade of the town hall of Gruson was degraded with waste oil a few hours before the minister's visit.
Questioned by AFP, the entourage of the minister argued Saturday that Gerald Darmanin had "decided to go at the last moment" and had arrived shortly after the beginning of the ceremony.
On Tuesday, the minister was pleased not to have been greeted by "casserolades" during a trip near Lyon. It was a ceremony of tribute to a gendarme who died as a result of his injuries in service, in the compound of the gendarmerie.
Elected from Tourcoing, Gérald Darmanin is very regularly in his city and crisscrosses his department.
© 2023 AFP