The mayor of Saint-Brevin, who announced his resignation on May 10 after being targeted in particular by arson and threats from the far right, deplored the lack of state support before the law commission of the Senate.
It is a Yannick Morez with a closed face and a serious tone who appeared before the senators of the Law Commission this Wednesday. The mayor of Saint-Brevin (Loire-Atlantique) spoke about his resignation on May 10, after months of tension in his town around a project to transfer a reception center for asylum seekers. asylum (Cada).
The city councilor first recalled that this project had been “imposed by the State”, then that the displacement of the site, near a school, had also received its approval.
However, “the State and its representatives did not wish to communicate, they let the municipality take care of it”, he then pointed out.
“Ignoble” tracts
Before returning to the creation of the Pierre Attelée collective, opposed to this project. Initially, it “made almost no noise”. But according to the city councilor, the opponents quickly “realized that they were not going to be able to move the town hall”.
From then on, the collective “called on the far right and all the far-right groups”, continues Yannick Morez.
Threats and intimidation then followed. In two weeks, the mayor of this town of nearly 15,000 inhabitants received two “despicable” leaflets in his mailbox. The first: a “photo” of a little boy “abducted in 2014 during a colony in Saint Brevin” and “killed in a pond”.
“Below the photo, it was marked, ‘this is what is likely to happen in Saint-Brevin with 110 migrants'”.
The following week, Yannick Morez received a similar leaflet, with the “photo of a little girl” and this “same speech”. Faced with this situation, the elected official says he “always received the same response from the gendarmerie: freedom of expression”.
“Destitute”
Same tone on the side of the sub-prefect, to hear the mayor. During a meeting in February 2022, “he told us ‘you know, I have threats every day,’ he testified.
“The three of us found ourselves with my two assistants and we were a little disappointed, shocked by what we had heard. We realized that we found ourselves totally helpless, alone, abandoned by the services of the State and that we were going to have to continue to face the rise of this collective which no longer represented Saint-Brevin but brought in all the far-right groups.
“A criminal attack”
The mayor indicated that his letter to the public prosecutor also remained unanswered. He returned to the high point of the tensions: the arson of his home on March 22.
“I was the victim of a criminal attack,” he claims.
“An explosive device was thrown between my vehicles. Fortunately we were awakened by the noises and three people who were returning from their work at Airbus in Saint-Nazaire”.
Yannick Morez then received “several phone calls”. Several from “the prosecutor”, as well as the sub-prefect, the prefect and Olivier Véran, government spokesperson. The President of the Republic wrote to him on April 3 to express his support. But, each time, there “was no response to the fact that there had been no support from the state”, lamented Yannick Morez.
After his visit to the Law Commission, the mayor of Saint-Brevin must meet Élisabeth Borne at the end of the day.
