2023-11-28 21:44:19
Eric Ciotti, president of the Les Républicains party, during the 105th congress of the Association of Mayors of France, in Paris, November 21, 2023. SARAH MEYSSONNIER/REUTERS
Monday, November 27, Eric Ciotti attended the “Artificial Intelligence Night” (AI) in Paris. In the near future, AI will perhaps come to the aid of political leaders in the delicate exercise of backpedaling. But not right now. Before this meeting, organized as part of the general states of the right, the president of the Les Républicains (LR) party was the guest of Cyril Hanouna and his program “Don’t touch my post”, on C8. In a Christmas setting, amid garlands and gifts, the deputy for Alpes-Maritimes ended up condemning the violent descent of members of the ultra-right, Saturday in Romans-sur-Isère (Drôme), in reaction to the death of the young Thomas, on the night of November 18 to 19, in Crépol, in the same department. “Yes, I condemn”, he declared, and to talk about “violent morons”.
Read also: Murder of Thomas in Crépol: far-right activists Saturday evening in Romans-sur-Isère to “fight it out”
Sunday evening, however, he refused to do so, on the set of BFM-TV. His line: the work of justice must come first. Despite several reminders, he stuck to his position: “You want me to say something else, I won’t tell you”, he got angry. Denounced by the left, this position caused a certain unease on the right. Head of the LR group in the National Assembly, Olivier Marleix preferred not to comment ” comments “ and recalled that “nothing could justify [à Romans-sur-Isère] such violence.”
On C8, Eric Ciotti denied having refused to condemn the actions of the 80 ultra-right activists, hooded and dressed in black, who landed in the Monnaie district for a punitive raid. “It is wrong to say that I did not condemn… There is justice in our country. It has passed, of which act, he continued, in reference to the sentencing of six people to sentences of six to ten months in prison. On the other hand, the boss of LR does not deviate on one point. According to him, the ultra-right parade made us forget Thomas, killed on the sidelines of a village ball: “The emotion in the country, in deep France, is for Thomas. And the media emotion is for what happened in Romans-sur-Isère. »
Backpedaling considered laborious
On the right, others consider this reading too binary. “We can no longer say that Thomas’ death was not a news item, and that it is dramatic to see a group of guys take to the streets to take justice into their own hands”, regrets the LR deputy for Lot, Aurélien Pradié. For part of the LR group in the National Assembly, their party leader above all betrayed the depths of his thoughts on Sunday. And backpedaling in the face of Cyril Hanouna is seen as laborious, even inglorious for the most critical.
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