Since 2020, Stéphane Lelièvre, manager of a hotel in Hyères, has financed weekly fireworks displays during the summer on Sablettes beach. The opposition denounces the ecological impact and questions funding.
The fires of discord. This summer again, a weekly fireworks display will be fired during the summer period in Hyères (Var), from July 8 to August 19. This operation, financed by Stéphane Lelièvre, the boss of the grand Hôtel des Sablettes and the ecolodge des Pesquiers, is not to the taste of the municipal opposition.
Environmentalists denounce opaque funding, but also the ecological damage caused by these fireworks, as Eric Martin, Hyères Tout Natural opposition representative, explains to BFM Toulon Var.
“From an environmentalist point of view, we cannot claim to be the greenest in the world and be a polluter at the port of Hyères,” he assures.
Before adding: “I am committed to ensuring that public data has traceability. I find it a shame to put ourselves in a situation that is not very transparent.”
“A patronage operation” for the mayor
As for Hyères town hall, Jean-Pierre Giran claims to be surprised by this controversy. “It’s a sponsorship operation as it can happen again and I don’t see the problems that this could pose,” he declares.
“For those who say that this is due to the links that I have with him, I do not know what they are suggesting. I have links with all the economic actors who are on the Hyérois territory, it is true,” continues the mayor.
Contacted by BFM Toulon Var, Stéphane Lelièvre believes that his gesture is nothing other than a gift that he has been offering since 2020 on Sablettes beach. “At the time, I asked the pyrotechnicians to set off the most ecological fires possible,” retorts the hotelier.
“What was done is still relevant. As for the question of how much it costs, that’s for who pays and who offers. (…) It’s only my business and the pyrotechnician to whom I have to pay the bills,” he concludes.
These fireworks will be fired on Mondays at 10 p.m. at the port of Hyères, from July 8 to August 19.
Tom Ferrara, with Marine Langlois
