In the aftermath of revelations in the Saint-Étienne municipal council of the content of a Twitter account attributed to Christiane Michaud-Farigoule (deputy mayor for sustainable development, biodiversity and ecological transition), the SOS Racisme association reacts.
The association writes that it is with “astonishment that we became aware of Ms. Christiane Michaud-Farigoule’s . (…) (…) support shown for the National Rally, nauseating comments on immigration, racist excesses and sharing of publications from the fascist sphere (with a systematically anti-Muslim, anti-immigration editorial line , anti LGBT), notably from the “native French” account as well as elected officials from the RN and Reconquête. These contents form a summary of the far-right discourse, in total contradiction with the republican values expected of a Deputy Mayor. Worse than that is the proximity of the elected official to disinformation networks. It is thus with surprise that we see the elected official interact without denouncing with accounts which tried to accredit Trump’s outing on cat-eating foreigners. Abject“.
Hundreds of messages deleted before closing the account
SOS Racisme studied the account in question from 2 p.m. this Monday. The association observed that from 3:30 p.m. “the elected official modified the confidentiality of her account before deleting around a hundred messages (…) While we observed the withdrawal of messages and the unsubscription of accounts (probably impossible to assume), the deputy at the town hall s is determined to delete her account. With nearly 2,600 messages on the social network, the task should be too restrictive“.
The association now demands “explanations to Ms. Michaud-Farigoule, as well as exemplary measures from the Mayor of Saint-Etienne, Mr. Perdriau, in the face of these intolerable excesses“. SOS racism adds that it will not let “pass any desire to minimize the presence in the municipal council of a relay of the worst far-right theories and we ask the mayor to withdraw his delegations“. Finally, SOS racism reminds that “many elected officials refused to resign for fear of “delivering the city to the extremes”“But for the association”the far right already exerts significant influence there“.
