the essential
Regional elected official Guillaume De Almeida Chavez published a video to oppose Eric Zemmour's meeting in Bruguières, on October 22, 2022. The socialist had been the target of hundreds of hate messages on social networks, some of a xenophobic nature .
“I received around 2,000 hate messages, the most violent were attacks around my Portuguese origins” such as “De Almeida, and it says French…” or “collaborator”. Guillaume De Almeida Chavez, regional advisor responsible for youth, released a video against the far-right on October 22, 2022.
Also read:
Toulouse: when the hatred of Zemmour’s supporters surges on the Internet
On the sidelines of a meeting of Éric Zemmour at the Bascala hall in Bruguières, the elected official appeared in a video wearing a scarf in the colors of the region: “Occitanie is a land of welcome […] until the end I will fight against the racist, fascist ideals, homophobia, xenophobia which are freely poured out in this room. No pasaran! ” proclaimed Guillaume De Almeida Chavez, in reference to the slogan of the Spanish Republicans during the civil war. The next day, his social networks were flooded with hundreds of messages to such an extent that the elected official called on Me Florent Desarnauts, a lawyer specializing in online offenses.
Around ten people prosecuted
At the end of the investigation opened by the Toulouse public prosecutor's office, around ten people were to be tried on September 3, for public insult to a citizen charged with a public mandate. But the hearing was postponed until November 26. The suspects come from the four corners of France, and near us from Haute-Garonne or the Pyrénées-Orientales. If justice has decided to prosecute several of the cyberstalkers, the Reconquest! did not apologize. Quite the contrary. His departmental delegate in Haute-Garonne, Arthur Cottrel increased the criticism this Friday, posting: “this socialist elected official literally made a fool of himself in front of the whole of France […] he didn't get anything bad in return […] It’s awful, he was called an imbecile and a collaborator! Poor thing, they told him he wasn't a real Frenchman.
?To protest against a meeting of @ZemmourEric (already: bravo for the democratic spirit), this socialist elected official literally made a fool of himself in front of the whole of France on the networks (? tweet below)
He didn't get anything bad in return.The same ones who call you… https://t.co/9UDoF7Kyl3
— Arthur Cottrel (@ArthurCottrel) https://twitter.com/ArthurCottrel/status/1852268985825251641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
“I no longer answered the phone”
Guillaume De Almeida Chavez admits that this torrent of online hatred was an ordeal: “My origins and my family were still attacked.” This cyberharassment campaign also affected his professional life: “I am a nurse and people called the clinic where I work, so much so that I no longer answered the phone,” he describes. “De Almeida you looked for it, you keep quiet,” said an anonymous interlocutor, for example.
“Filing a complaint cost me 4,000 euros,” recalls the elected official, determined to defend his values. “We do not pour out our hatred on social networks anonymously, there are laws and I trust the justice system to remind these people of that” he concludes.
