Rumors and misinformation abounded on social networks. Matélé deciphers the revolt of this Monday in the Rochefort city center and disentangles the truth from the falsehood.
Monday afternoon, supporters of the @venir Citoyen list expressed their anger following the majority pact signed by the two losers of the election: MR-IC and POUR. Between revolt, violence and attacks, rumors circulated on social networks and erroneous information was relayed by the media. There were four members of the editorial staff, two journalists and two cameramen, on the scene. There was also a sister from the Future at our side. We tell you what really happened.
-
“Extreme violence”? No, but the climate was very (very) tense!
Initially peaceful, the gathering took another turn after about fifteen minutes. While waiting for a reaction from the Municipal College, then in a meeting, the tone rose in the ranks of the supporters of the group of Corine Mullens and Thierry Lavis. There were still more than a hundred of them in front of Rochefort town hall. The four tractors descended into the center blocked traffic on the main street before the arrival of the police. The police were called for reinforcements by Luc Pirson, the general director, for fear of scuffles inside the building. “He was grabbed by the neck” declared Pierre-Yves Dermagne this morning on La Première. Fake. The latter was actually attacked by a very angry demonstrator. He threatened him a few centimeters from his face: “I’m going to headbutt you!” On the verge of a physical attack, it was necessary to intervene to allow the general director to return to his office in peace.
A daily headlines “Extreme violence in Rochefort after the elections”. The adjective seems far too strong to us in view of the events in Rochefort. The climate was rather tense, made very hostile at certain moments by the behavior of a handful of demonstrators. On RTBF this morning, Pierre-Yves Dermagne, in Brussels at the time of the revolt, also declared:
Death threats were made. Some demonstrators were armed. The son of one of the candidates was equipped with an iron bar.
We were there, as close as possible to the demonstration. We did not see any blunt objects in the hands of the demonstrators. But Christophe Davin, alderman of the majority, maintains the opposite. An armed young man was reportedly seen with an iron bar, which he quickly put away.
-
A revolt comparable to the storming of the Capitol? No.
Comparison is not right. Pierre-Yves Dermagne and Julien Defaux both drew a parallel with the assault on the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump, in a context of contestation of the results of the American presidential election. In Rochefort, no one is questioning the results of Sunday evening but rather the way of negotiating. No one entered the municipal administration by force. Three candidates from the @venir Citoyen group were invited to speak after strongly urging the majority to obtain an interview. All under the eye of our cameras. We were very far from the bloody and violent events experienced at the headquarters of the American Congress. The discussion was certainly lively and not very constructive, but without conflict. It should be noted that at the height of the tension, Corine Mullens and Thierry Lavis called for calm, recalling several times that the primary goal of the demonstration was to display discontent in a peaceful manner. “The demonstrators all obeyed the orders of the police,” explains Marjorie Higuera y Vidal, the head of the Lesse and Lhomme police zone.
-
An alderman suffering a stroke? No.
The rumor circulated in the middle of the demonstration. Yvon Herman, about to return home, was booed, copiously insulted and threatened as he left City Hall. A tractor got in his way to prevent his vehicle from exiting. Panicked, the socialist alderman had an anxiety attack. Charlotte Bodart, candidate @venir Citoyen and professional nurse, then emerged from the crowd to help the septuagenarian. An ambulance subsequently arrived and paramedics checked his state of health. Contrary to what was reported by certain media, Yvon Herman was not hospitalized. The alderman returned home, safe and sound, dropped off again by the paramedics.
-
Dermagne under police protection? No.
The terms “judicial protection” and “police protection” have been used wrongly by some radio journalists. In fact, police patrols simply visited the homes of Pierre-Yves Dermagne, François Bellot and Julien Defaux as a precautionary measure. In the same way as the intervention of the police at City Hall, the head of the corps wanted to ensure that public order was not disturbed. Following certain rumors, the socialist minister in charge of current affairs feared a raid by demonstrators on his home while his two children were alone at home. During the demonstration, Corine Mullens’ supporters told us they only wanted to come to François Bellot’s house to lay wreaths of flowers bearing the slogan “death to democracy”.
-
“François Bellot pulls the strings”? No, according to the main person concerned.
Several times, the name of François Bellot came up in the mouths of the candidates of the now Rochefort opposition. According to them, the former mayor of Rochefort and strong man of the Liberals would have been in charge of the negotiations. Julien Defaux would therefore only be a puppet operated by the former federal minister of mobility. Contacted by us, François Bellot denies any involvement on his part:
I am neither the architect nor the builder of this coalition. I wasn’t involved for a single second. Julien Defaux is not a puppet. I withdrew from municipal politics, it is not to get involved in it today.
