Heckled during the May 1 demonstration in Saint-Étienne, Raphaël Glucksmann immediately accused La France insoumise. An accusation that makes Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s party jump.
This Wednesday May 1, Raphaël Glucksmann was prevented from joining the Workers’ Day procession in Saint-Étienne. Taken to task by activists and targeted by jets of paint, the head of the list of the Socialist Party and Place Publique in the European elections was finally exfiltrated. He did not fail to immediately designate someone responsible for this snub, claiming to have recognized the flags of La France insoumise. “It’s their conception of democratic debate, it’s not ours,” he lamented.
The accusation did not please the rebels. Especially since the Young Communists of the Loire quickly claimed responsibility for the action, relaying images of their own banners. “I do not agree with the expulsion which was organized by the group which claims it, the Communist Youth, of Mr. Glucksmann in St-Étienne”, quickly declared Jean-Luc Mélenchon in front of the Parisian procession. “But I note that he should have thought before speaking and accusing La France insoumise, which is the comfort that these people give themselves in all circumstances,” he denounced.
“I express all my solidarity with Raphaël Glucksmann,” said Manon Aubry on Wednesday evening on BFMTV. The head of the LFI list in the European elections added that his rival was “welcome to come to demonstrate”, insisting that “violence has never been our method”. But she also demanded “an apology” for “having slandered a political movement which has no connection with what happened”.
“They chose their opponent,” says Glucksmann
The rebels, led by Mélenchon, also denounced “variable geometry” indignation after the attack on Raphaël Glucksmann, recalling that their own activists were regularly targeted. Activist Rima Hassan told X that she was “attacked by a violent group” on Tuesday. “What is happening to Raphaël Glucksmann is unfortunate, what he is doing with it is dishonest,” she reacted this Thursday morning. “What he suffered was neither thought nor orchestrated by LFI activists, it is not because you have a testimony from a single activist of this movement that you can afford to attribute it to a whole collective which never ceases to defend democracy and freedoms,” she added. A reference to Lionel Jamon, LFI’s alternate candidate for the legislative elections in the Loire, who reportedly told LCI that he had participated in the expulsion of Glucksmann.
After his departure from the Saint-Etienne procession, the head of the socialist list attacked the campaign strategy of the rebels more generally: “80% of their tweets to LFI are devoted to Raphaël Glucksmann and the socialist list/Place Publique, so at one point, they chose their opponent. We, our opponent, remains Jordan Bardella, it remains the rise of the extreme right. “You see the political maneuver, reacted Mathilde Panot this Thursday morning on Franceinfo: he explains that the extreme right would be his adversary while tapping on La France insoumise.”
The leader of the rebellious deputies finally deplored a diversion: “We had a May 1st with hundreds of thousands of people who marched and the only thing we remember is Mr. Glucksmann and his little controversy. “