She appeals "to the services of the State": the patroness of the Renaissance deputies, Aurore Bergé, asked Thursday evening March 16 the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, to ensure the "protection of parliamentarians" of the majority , targeted by opponents of the pension reform.
"I refuse to see MPs in my group, or any MP in the nation, afraid of their individual expression, afraid to vote freely because they fear reprisals," Ms. Bergé wrote in a letter to the minister, whose agency France-Presse (AFP) had a copy.
"Following the letter you sent me (…), I would like to confirm that the protection of elected officials is currently and more than ever the priority of the Minister of the Interior", replied Gérald Darmanin in a letter consulted by the AFP. "As soon as I took office, I asked the police and the prefects to be particularly attentive to the violence of which elected officials are victims," he adds.
Surveillance around parliamentary offices
The minister also sent a note to the prefects on Thursday asking them to "firmly maintain the system implemented following [his] previous instructions" for the protection of elected officials. He asks them in particular to "continue the surveillance put in place around the offices of parliamentarians and their homes, if necessary", or to "maintain a reinforced monitoring of social networks" to detect "any threat or any possible hateful message".
The triggering, Thursday, by the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, of the constitutional weapon of 49.3 to have the pension reform definitively adopted without a vote by the National Assembly was followed by rallies in several cities in France and by demonstrations dotted with tensions.
Several union officials in the transport and energy sectors have also warned of possible "excess" or "individual actions" by rank-and-file workers.
Parliamentarians from the majority but also from the Les Républicains (LR) party have already suffered power cuts or deterioration of permanence.
"We have experienced violence in the previous mandate, it must not be able to reproduce", recalls Ms. Bergé, in reference to the crisis of "yellow vests". Mr. Darmanin must bring together the prefects on Friday morning.
