Ferias du Sud-Ouest: angry workers, security… tensions around the Bayonne and Mont-de-Marsan festivals, scheduled for the same date

2024-10-09 04:17:29

Denouncing an “economic catastrophe”, fair workers demonstrated on Tuesday in Bayonne against the change in the date of the city’s fiestas, which will compete with those of Mont-de-Marsan next July, but the mayor said he wanted to persist and criticized a “blackmail”. Throughout the day, around forty trucks from the fair crossed the city, starting at 9 in the morning, to the sound of a deafening chorus of horns. Banners attached to the trucks read “angry showmen” or “dictator Jean-René Etchegaray,” named after the mayor of Bayonne.

The Federation of French Fairs, which called for the mobilization, deplores a “forced move” by the municipality which “did not take into account the economic issues linked to this decision taken without any consultation”. The village festivals, traditionally organized at the end of July, will take place next year from the 16th to the 20th of this month, at the same time as those in Mont-de-Marsan, where the event is also the highlight of the season.

In reaction, Mayor Jean-René Etchegaray said in a press conference on Tuesday evening that he intends to maintain these new dates, to “reduce attendance and ensure optimal safety”, given the “dramas” that have already occurred. In 2023 the holidays were marred by the fatal attack on a city center resident, while this year a 58-year-old man died a few days after a violent altercation.

New mobilizations expected

“If a mayor doesn’t take this into account he is irresponsible,” added the councilor, who wants to return to a “satisfactory” level of 1 million people in five days. In 2023, Bayonne Festivals saw record attendance of approximately 1.3 million spectators. Jean-René Etchegaray also stated that he had suffered “rejection” from the fairgrounds as long as the dates were kept, despite his “desire to establish a dialogue” with them. “If it’s not blackmail, I don’t know what to call it,” he added.

The fair, which considered that the elected representative should “accept having made a mistake and overturn his decision”, has already announced a new mobilization on 19 October, on the occasion of the Aviron Bayonnais rugby match against Racing 92, at the Jean-Dauger Stadium. For Nicolas Bruch, president of the federation, “it is a disaster for our businesses. When I come for a month and a half to the South West in the summer, it is 50% of my annual turnover and there you take away one of the three big dates which are Bayonne, Dax and Mont-de-Marsan.

A “deep misunderstanding”

Bayonne’s decision also arouses a “deep misunderstanding” on the part of the mayor of Mont-de-Marsan, who deplores the absence of “prior consultation”. “If the Bayonne festivals are victims of their excessive publicity and the crowds they generate, for our part we are very proud of the peaceful and friendly character of the Madeleine festivals,” said elected official Charles Dayot in a press release. “I keep saying my door is open,” responded Mayor Jean-René Etchegaray, who is due to meet his Landase counterpart “quite quickly.”

Last summer, Bayonne had already brought forward the date of its celebrations ahead of the Olympic Games, which had mobilized most of the country’s security forces. According to the municipality, this change made it possible to “calm down” the event, whose participation decreased by almost 20%. Organized from 10 to 14 July, it was then in competition with the festivals of Pamplona, ​​​​in the Spanish Basque Country, a sister city to that of Bayonne.