A week after that of Béziers, the town hall of Perpignan is in turn ordered to withdraw “within twenty-four hours” the crèche installed in its town hall. Again seized by the League of Human Rights (LDH) in summary proceedings, an emergency procedure, the Administrative Court of Montpellier ordered, Wednesday, December 21, the town led by Louis Aliot (National Rally, RN) to “remove the nativity scene, or pessebre [en catalan] »under penalty of a fine of “100 euros per day late”according to a decision rendered less than twenty-four hours after hearing the parties.
“It’s a nativity scene with Joseph, Mary, the Three Kings which show that we are indeed in a Catholic nativity scene, contrary to the law of 1905” of separation of Churches and the State, had pleaded Sophie Mazas, lawyer and president of the LDH of Hérault, Tuesday.
“We are truly in the tradition”had retorted the lawyer of the city, Delphine Joubes, by putting forward that the crib had been erected in a « patio (…) [consacré] to Catalanity” and by which “People who wish to come to the town hall for administrative procedures do not pass”. The conclusions of the town hall “are rejected”briefly informed the administrative court, whose precise motivation will be known later.
“Instrumentation of religion”
Mr. Aliot, figure of the RN, and the mayor of Béziers, Robert Ménard, close to the far-right party, “think they can violate the law and the Constitution with impunity”reacted to Agence France-Presse Mme Mazas, judging ” problem “ that the prefects of Hérault and Pyrénées-Orientales have not “not reacted” pour “enforce the law”. The head of the LDH also denounces “the instrumentalization of religion by the extreme right for political ends”. “The strength of secularism is the freedom of everyone to live their belief personally and in the places of worship provided for this purpose: the crèche at the church, the civil status and the management of the city at the town hall. »she added.
The mayor of Perpignan immediately replied: “Unfortunately, the League for Human Rights and several political organizations have decided to exploit the secularism of the Republic and administrative justice to obstruct the expression of our traditions, our heritages and more generally to prevent us from ‘to be what we are’Mr. Aliot wrote in a press release.
The unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the RN denounces a “decision in total discrepancy with the popular enthusiasm and wonder aroused by the pessebre”admired according to him by ” thousands of people “ since November 25. Pending official notification, “the city reaffirms its attachment to all the elements of our Catalan culture, of which pessebre is a part”.
The nurseries of Beaucaire (Gard) and Béziers are regularly prosecuted, but continue to be installed each year by the mayors concerned. On November 16, the Council of State had confirmed the ban on the Christmas crib of the town hall of Beaucaire, directed by the far-right mayor Julien Sanchez.