The deputy of the Pyrénées-Orientales Romain Grau (La République en Marche, LRM) was ” violently “ taken to task in Perpignan, Saturday January 22, by demonstrators against the health pass who “attacked” his tenure, according to statements by the elected official to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
A parliamentary adviser to the Keeper of the Seals, Eric Dupond-Moretti, Guillem Gervilla, and one of his neighbors were also present. “All of a sudden we heard a horde of people heading towards the office and then banging on the windows”, said Mr. Grau, estimating their number at more than 250. “We went out to talk to them and there we were attacked very violently. They clearly wanted to crack us up with some pretty heavy insults.”, he added.
I strongly condemn this new attack on my office, the attempt to intimidate and the violence… https://t.co/Zq714fK4JF
“One of my neighbors intervened and got slapped. Me, I received a punch on the chin”, said the MP. “We finally managed to sneak upstairs and they dispersed after breaking a window”, he said.
“Acts unacceptable in democracy” for the prefect
Romain Grau announced his desire to file a complaint on Sunday. The prefect of the Pyrénées-Orientales, Etienne Stoskopf, wrote on Twitter condemn “these acts unacceptable in a democracy”. “Everything will be done to identify the perpetrators”, continues the prefecture.
“Once again, once too many, an elected representative of the Nation has been attacked on the sidelines of a demonstration (…). These behaviors are unacceptable and call for unity”, has, on its side, tweeted the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer. “No physical aggression against elected officials of the Republic can be tolerated”, wrote on the same social network the Minister of Overseas Sébastien Lecornu. According to figures from the Ministry of the Interior, since July 2021, more than 300 complaints for “death threat” have been filed by national elected officials. Although the phenomenon concerns most political parties, the deputies of the majority are particularly targeted: according to the LRM group in the National Assembly, all its members have been victims at least once of a form of violence since the beginning of their mandate.
The Ministry of the Interior counted, on Saturday, nearly 38,000 demonstrators throughout France against the vaccine pass, two days before its entry into force. On Wednesday, the Paris prosecutor’s office had opened an investigation for “aggravated intentional violence” after the January 15 attack on a team of AFP journalists covering an anti-pass rally.