The publication of a video on the Facebook account of the City of Denain sows discord. Mayor Anne-Lise Dufour-Tonini (PS) speaks about the difficulties the town encounters in the face of illegal traveler settlements. But Ersilia Soudais (LFI), MP for Seine-et-Marne, reported her comments to the public prosecutor for inciting hatred.
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“I encourage you to help us and to remain vigilant, like these local residents who contacted me yesterday via social networks and who allowed us to block the arrival of travelers before the caravans set up. I know I can count on you.“It is with these words that Anne-Lise Dufour-Tonini, PS mayor of Denain (59), concluded her speech on the illicit installations of travelers in the town, published on October 21 on the Facebook page of the City.
This sentence, however, caught the attention of Ersilia Soudais, deputy for the 7th constituency of Seine-et-Marne. Two days after the publication of the video, she decided to contact the Public Prosecutor to “incitement to hatred“. We'll explain.
The controversial video:
“Madame Dufour-Tonini published a video on her Facebook account considering that the presence of travelers was “anarchic, deviant and unhealthy” and launched a call for denunciation“, estimates the MP in her report. What poses a problem: that the mayor invites the inhabitants of Denain to report to her the installations of Travelers.
Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that “any constituted authority, any public officer or civil servant, who in the exercise of his functions, acquires knowledge of a crime or misdemeanor is required to give notice without delay to the public prosecutor.” It is under this article that Ersilia Soudais alerted the Paris judicial court, denouncing “discriminatory insults“and one “incitement to clothes” against Traveler communities.
For her part, Anne-Lise Dufour-Tonini does not wish to respond to this report of antigypsyism. “JHe doesn't want to give importance to that. I have nothing to reproach myself for.”
She still justifies not having made this video for “make an LFI MP react“, but to tell her fellow citizens to be aware of the problems caused by the illegal settlements of Travelers. She denies these accusations of calling for denunciation.
I said “warn us in time”, so that we can prevent illegal access, not to provoke a reaction.
Anne-Lise Dufour-ToniniMayor (PS) of Denain
In this respect, she takes an example of a report made by residents of the municipality. “Thank you to those who called me on Sunday evening saying “look, they are tearing down the stadium gates”. We barely had time to send the municipal police cars. Otherwise, there would have been a long process of requesting an eviction, which requires paying bailiffs and lawyers. I said “warn us in time”, so that we can prevent illegal access, not to provoke a reaction.“
The group “Proud to be Denaisiens”, from which the councilor comes, also spoke out, condemning “the scandalous and outrageous remarks of LFI MP Ersilia Soudais.“They add:”We will support the steps taken in court to defend our mayor against these comments which amount to insult and defamation.“
Mainly confined online, this controversy mainly provokes reactions on social networks. Sébastien Chenu, deputy president of the National Rally group in the Assembly and deputy from the North, also reacted on his X account (formerly Twitter), to put the question of “illicit Traveler settlements“.
“The management of these illegal installations is, in fact, disastrous. The State seems to have lost all authority in the face of these illicit occupations of public or private land, with serious consequences for the inhabitants of the municipalities who suffer damage, insecurity, and even hygiene problems linked to the accumulation of waste“, he criticizes in a press release.
Anne-Lise Dufour-Tonini nevertheless recalls that her town is equipped with a “area of travelers“, and that many of them “bought land, and we have no problems, we live very well. I don't even have an intervention request for noise. What's wrong is when these installations are illegal and anarchic, when it deviates from the law and electricity or water is stolen.“
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