“Get out of it”, “Palestine will live”, “PS bastard”: violently attacked and doused with paint, Raphaël Glucksmann, head of the PS-Place publique list, was unable to join the May 1 procession in Saint -Etienne, pointing the finger at “La France insoumise” activists. Raphaël Glucksmann and his entourage suffered the invectives of nearly fifty people upon their arrival, being subjected to paint being thrown and shouts like “Glucksmann get out of it” or “Palestine will live”. The head of the list, denouncing “around fifty cranks”, some of whom belong to LFI according to him, consequently gave up joining the demonstration. The planned post-parade exchange with activists was also canceled.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal immediately condemned this violence. “I will always stand against any form of violence in politics. Politics can sometimes be a fight in the noble sense of the term, but it must always be done with respect for the integrity of people,” he said. declared on the sidelines of a trip to Beaugency (Loiret). The leader of La France insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon also “totally disapproved” of the actions attributed in part to activists in his camp. “All those who want to show allegiance to the workers’ struggle for their rights have their place on May 1. We just have to move away from them if we displease them,” he argued on X. “This action provides a media diversion against May 1 and a victim role for Glucksmann who takes the opportunity to accuse us.
“Frustration”
“These people are not democrats. We see it in their violence,” declared Raphaël Glucksmann shortly after the incident, targeting La France insoumise. “What is certain is that there were flags of political parties. There were flags of Permanent Revolution (Editor’s note: a Trotskyist movement) and La France Insoumise,” he said. “So there you have it. This is their conception of democratic debate. It is not ours. We are fighting democrats, democrats to the core. And we exclude a priori any form of physical and verbal violence of the political confrontation that keeps democracy alive,” he insisted.
Insulted upon his arrival, even before joining the procession, Raphaël Glucksmann was subsequently pursued for several hundred meters by people also shouting “PS bastard”, “Palestine will win” or “Saint-E is not yours “, in reference to the nickname of Saint-Etienne. The head of the list had stains of green paint on his forehead and red paint on his jacket, noted an AFP journalist. The socialist candidate attributed these angry movements to “frustration”. “It’s a reaction of frustration because the dynamic is with us”, he estimated in reference to the polls favorable to the essayist in voting intentions in the European elections, on June 9, the gap narrowing with Renaissance candidate Valérie Hayer.
Six weeks before the election, with 14% of voting intentions (+2.5 points in one month), Raphaël Glucksmann’s list is closer to that of the presidential majority led by Valérie Hayer, at 17% (-1 point) , according to a Cevipof-Ipsos-Institut Montaigne-Jean-Jaurès Foundation study for The world, published Monday and covering 10,651 people. Referring to the slogans about the conflict in Gaza, Raphaël Glucksmann also assured that he “did not stutter to condemn Hamas” while “fighting for the carnage in Gaza to stop.” “But this does not lead us to slogans which are the negation of Israel,” he concluded during an impromptu press briefing.