After his conviction, Eric Zemmour poses as an expiatory victim
January 17 campaign chronicle. 4:15 p.m. Will the judgment rendered by the Paris court come to disturb Eric Zemmour’s campaign a little more? While the polemicist seems to be at a standstill, the deliberation delivered on Monday comes on top of the difficulties known in recent weeks, between loss of speed in the polls, candidacy announcement video broadcast without having the authorizations for the images or even comments controversies over the education of children with disabilities. Sentenced at first instance for having declared on the subject of unaccompanied foreign minors (known as “unaccompanied minors”) that “these young people, all of them, have nothing to do here. They are thieves, they are murderers, they are rapists, they is all they are. You have to send them away. They don’t even have to come” on CNews, in September 2020, the polemicist was declared guilty of “complicity in provoking hatred or violence” and “complicity in public insults towards a group of people, because of their origin or their membership”.
Already sentenced… and several times released
Although he had tempered his remarks – “not all unaccompanied minors are thieves and rapists, but the responsibility of France and the government is not to take the risk. As long as there are , we must not let them in“-, Eric Zemmour sees one more line appear on his criminal record. For the time being, it is only a question of taking out the check book as compensation. The far-right candidate was sentenced to a 100-day fine of 100 euros. But if he doesn’t pay, he could be sent behind bars. The payments will not, however, start immediately, the founder of Reconquest having appealed. “Most of the time, we obtained acquittals on appeal and in cassation,” noted his lawyer, Me Olivier Pardo, after the hearing.
Indeed, Eric Zemmour was released after several convictions at first instance, for “incitement to racial hatred” in 2014 on RTL, “incitement to hatred against Muslims” during an interview with Corriere della Serra the same year or for “insult and incitement to hatred” following his speech at the Convention of the Right in 2019. He was however sentenced twice, found guilty of “incitement to racial discrimination” at the following remarks made on March 6, 2010 on France O then in “Hello earthlings” (Canal +), but also for “incitement to religious hatred towards Muslims”, in “C à vous” (France 5) in 2016.
expiatory victim?
This new conviction at first instance comes on the day of the release of a survey carried out by Kantar Public for France info and The world in which 62% of respondents (1016 respondents in total) perceive the pretender to the Elysée Palace as a danger to democracy. But what does it matter for the polemicist who seeks the Palace. He even wants to try to take advantage of the situation by posing as an expiatory victim to convince the doubters to join him. In his press release, Eric Zemmour supports his remarks on foreign minors isolated by a Senate information report, dated September 29, 2021, indicating that “on delinquency linked to young people on the move, the finding is clear: the offenses committed are more and more numerous, serious and violent”.
The candidate therefore ensures, between the lines, “say out loud what everyone thinks in a whisper”… even in Parliament. “As French citizens, we must demand the right to address this issue, which unfortunately concerns more and more French people, without the risk of being worried by Justice”. He even considers that the decision of the Paris court is “the condemnation of a free spirit by a judicial system invaded by ideologues” and militates for “the end of this system which tightens the tourniquet a little more every day on the freedom of expression and democratic debate”.
Accused from all sides, in particular by “anti-racist” associations but also by “essentially left-wing” departments, according to him, Eric Zemmour is trying to use this conviction as a springboard to try to start again higher in the voting intentions, who wants to be the cantor of the opposition to “counter-powers which have become power, that is to say justice, the media, minorities”. “We must remove the power from these counter-powers”, he had launched in Béziers. Will the adoption of this posture be saving for the polemicist or the electorate which could be tempted by this new candidacy will move away, on the contrary, from a candidate for the supreme function to the speeches for the less unique?
Eric Zemmour fined 10,000 euros after his comments on unaccompanied minors
January 17 campaign chronicle. 2:12 p.m. Eric Zemmour was sentenced, Monday, January 17, 2022, to a fine of 10,000 euros by the Paris court for “complicity in provoking racial hatred” and “public insult”, announced the court in its deliberations, at the start of afternoon, following his comments on CNews in September 2020 on unaccompanied minors. Eric Zemmour will also have to pay damages to the Human Rights League, Mrap and Licra.
However, the polemicist announced to appeal the decision, denouncing a “condemnation of a free spirit by a judicial system invaded by ideologues”. And adds bluntly: “we want the end of this system which tightens the tourniquet a little more every day on freedom of expression and democratic debate. This system manufactures crimes of opinion in an industrial way. It is urgent to drive out the ideology of the courts. Justice must once again become Justice and France must remain France”.
On September 29, 2020, Eric Zemmour declared that unaccompanied minors are “thieves, they are murderers, they are rapists, that’s all they are”. A statement which followed the machete attack on September 25, 2020 of police officers in front of the former premises of Charlie Hebdo by a young Pakistani, then wrongly described as an unaccompanied minor. A fine of 10,000 euros had been requested by the prosecution.
11% and a fourth place for Zemmour according to the latest survey
Campaign column for January 17, 2022. 1:53 p.m. A new poll on the 2022 presidential election was published on Monday January 17, 2022. Produced by Opinion Way, the latter credits Eric Zemmour with 11% of the votes in the first round of the ballot. He would be preceded by Valérie Pécresse and Marine Le Pen and would be far from reaching the second round.
Now officially a candidate, the polemicist appears to be losing momentum and no longer comes to shake up the candidacies of the Republicans and the National Rally, although the former journalist would manage to capture part of the electorate traditionally voting for the right and the far-right. right, despite everything weakening the scores of its two rivals. But faced with various controversies, the pretender to the Elysée is skating, even if his campaign team continues to form around, in particular, two prefects. From there to completely shake up a campaign that seemed to have been written for months?
Eric Zemmour calls for the return of a school of the “past” and “authority”
The far-right candidate Eric Zemmour was on the move on Friday in Hauts-de-France, where he called for the return of a school of “past”, “authority” and “iron discipline”. “. In a room full of teachers in the village of Honnecourt-sur-Escaut (North), the presidential candidate affirmed that “the school which closes, the public services which go away, the horizon which s darkens: I want to put an end to the spiral of downgrading described to me by the mayors, meeting after meeting”.
The mayor of Honnecourt-sur-Escaut gives his sponsorship to Eric Zemmour
He is “one of the first to [l’]having sponsored” according to his words. Eric Zemmour officially received, on Friday January 14, 2022, the sponsorship of the mayor of Honnecourt-sur-Escaut, a town in the North in which he went during a trip to the rurality. A staging under the eye of the cameras, in the middle of a period when the polemicist (like other candidates) says he fears not to receive the 500 signatures necessary to validate his candidacy. “Jean-Pierre Golebiewski had not yet never gave his sponsorship”, reports Julien Chavanne, journalist for RFI present on site.
Eric Zemmour in the North of France
After the media tour, the campaign tour. Eric Zemmour is traveling in the north of France this Friday 14 and this Saturday 15 January 2022. The far-right candidate went to the small village of Honnecourt-sur-Escaut (North), where he exchanged with the municipal council but also teachers. He must, at the end of the afternoon, hold a public meeting in Saint-Quentin (Aisne), at 6.30 p.m.
The polemicist will travel to Villers-Cotterêts (Aisne) on Saturday morning, where he will visit the construction site of the local castle, before heading to Château-Thierry (Aisne) for a visit to the city during the afternoon.