A project for a reception center for asylum seekers, two events. The small town of Saint-Brévin-les-Pins (Loire-Atlantique) saw parade between its market place and its town hall sometimes supporters, sometimes opponents of this project. On Saturday February 25, the gendarmerie counted them respectively at 900 and 380 people.
In the morning, supporters of the project marched with banners that read: "There are no foreigners on this earth", "Brotherhood", "For freedoms and against far-right ideas and chanting the slogan "Saint-Brévin, land of welcome". In the procession, we could see flags of the CGT, the League of Human Rights, the Cimade or even Emmaüs. "We are in favor of welcoming migrants, we affirm that Saint-Brévin must remain a land of welcome", explained Philippe Croze, president of the Collectif des Brévinois attentive et solidaires, according to whom a hundred people must be welcomed in the new reception center for asylum seekers (CADA), from the end of the year.
"When someone needs help, you have to be there"
"Each person is a being who needs freedom, solidarity, justice, fraternity, and when someone needs help, you have to be there," said Christine, 66, interviewed by the Agency France-Presse (AFP). She had come from the neighboring department, Vendée, to demonstrate. Some 250 demonstrators subsequently remained in the city center, until protesters opposed to the CADA project gathered outside the town hall in the early afternoon. The police kept the two groups at a distance, in a tense atmosphere.
"Immigration is bad for them, as it is for us"
Opponents of the project, who deplore the proximity between the future CADA and a school, chanted the slogan "La France aux Français", raised flags of the far-right party Reconquête! by Eric Zemmour, as well as a sign that read: "Yes to controlled immigration, no Mr. Macron, not just anyhow!" Not anywhere! 110 migrants on our school grounds, outrageous.”
"I am against any increase in migration and the state does not take the necessary means to prevent migrants from coming by land, by sea", argued Olivier, an 82-year-old protester, also questioned by the AFP. "Our approach is not at all racist, but on the contrary aims to show, both to the French and to migrants, that immigration is harmful for them, as for us", argued, for his part, Alain Escada , president of the traditional Catholic organization Caritas.
On December 11, two previous demonstrations by opponents and supporters of the CADA project had gathered 150 and 250 people respectively in Saint-Brévin-les-Pins.
