the essential
Friday October 11, 2024, doctor Denis Agret, figure of the anti-vax movement during the Covid period and recently removed from the Order of Physicians, hosted a conference in a community hall in Foissac. The mayor, Emmanuel Destruel, questioned for maintaining this meeting, defends the plurality of opinions.
There are many comments on Facebook. And most of them, against the decision of the Foissac town hall. On October 11, 2024, Denis Agret, removed from the Order of Physicians on January 1, 2025 and figure in the anti-vax movement during the Covid period, held a conference in a municipal hall in the town.
Among the 438 opinions under the publication of the meeting announcement, some stand out. “Having someone who is no longer a doctor talk about health is not crazy”, “are you going to invite Dutroux to talk about child protection, and Cahuzac to fight against tax evasion?” . Or again: “unbelievable that the town hall is promoting a man who has been definitively disbarred.”
Faced with these accusations, the mayor of Foissac, Emmanuel Destruel, defends himself. “I understand that some may have been shocked, or not appreciated. And I am open to discussion.” According to him, it is precisely in this sense that he decided to maintain Denis Agret’s intervention. “I assume that our rooms are open to anyone who has information to provide. Before making this choice, I spoke to the council about it. We all agreed.”
“Health is a subject that raises questions”
Towards those who criticize him for being anti-vax himself, the mayor is firm. “I don’t like putting people in boxes. It’s reductive. If I brought him in, it’s not out of dogmatism. My positions only concern me. I just found it interesting to relaunch the debate, five years after this period that we experienced.”
Then, “before confirming his arrival, I went to the conference in Valady, which had taken place the day before, to listen to the content of his remarks. There was nothing alarming, otherwise I would have canceled. Nobody considered him a messiah. But people have the right to have questions. And it was in this state of mind that he gave his speech at the conference, which was attended by “approximately” a hundred people.
By way of presentation, Emmanuel Destruel explains that “health is a subject that raises a lot of questions.” Before adding that he “does not pretend to answer it” since he “does not speak the language of researchers” and doctors. “Common sense requires everyone to worry about their health and do what they think is best, more preventive than curative.”
The financing of the room at stake
In his eyes, “everything is permitted, except what is prohibited by law.” And therefore specifies that it has not broken any rules by welcoming Denis Agret to its territory. “This room will be open, under the same conditions, to those who would like to intervene following this conference”, whether they are for or against the opinion of the dismissed doctor.
He supports this statement by emphasizing that municipal buildings are also available to his political opponents, in the event that some would like to rent it to hold conferences. For him, that’s democracy. “If I had done the opposite, and listened to right thinking, I would have been criticized.”
Criticism also arises over the financing of this meeting. What about public money? The councilor wonders, not without a touch of irony, about the cost it has caused. “Cleaning? It will be the same as usually done. So no extra. Ultimately, the lighting for that evening?”
And is surprised at this reasoning. “People are asking the town hall to pay, in the same way as the citizens, for a conference that the town hall itself organized?” But quickly concludes that to avoid harsh looks, he should undoubtedly have “asked Denis Agret to finance it. But since that’s how it is, if necessary, I will pay out of my own pocket.”
