The mayor of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins resigned from his mandate following the arson attack that targeted his home in March 2023. This city councilor had been targeted by threats since his decision to build a reception center for asylum seekers. asylum near a primary school.
Yannick Morez was under pressure from the far right, particularly from some close to the Reconquest Party! of Éric Zemmour for several months. The reason: the state planned to build a reception center for asylum seekers (Cada) near a primary school in Saint-Brevin-les-Pins (Loire-Atlantique). After several difficult months where the home of this elected various right was the victim of a fire, the city councilor decided to resign.
The suspicions on this criminal act are on the opponents of the Cada in this commune. Members of the far right have repeatedly organized demonstrations in Saint-Brevin-les-Pins. But the tensions are not new. In 2016, the city’s leisure center was the target of fire while the building was to receive refugees.
The RN then Reconquest at the helm of the protest
With the Cada project, the far right has taken a liking to the seaside resort following the demands of a small core of local residents who are firmly opposed to the construction of this building next to their homes. If Marine Le Pen does not wish to get involved in this file, the head of the National Rally of the department beats the pavement several times and thus expressing himself in front of the crowd: “No to massive immigration, which has become an immigration of submersion!”
Then reconquest! recovers mobilization with a mobilization campaign carried out on social networks. Release locates on the spot the identity Damien Rieu, close to Éric Zemmour. 200 demonstrators then gathered on February 25 with the presence of neo-Nazi visuals such as Celtic crosses in their parade. Opposite, 1,000 people have also invested the city in support of the Cada project.
On March 22, online intimidation and threatening chants gave way to another method: the mayor’s home was set on fire along with his two vehicles. Airbus employees, at the end of their service, fortunately alerted the mayor and the emergency services in time to avoid the tragedy.
The State pointed out by the mayor of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins
In a letter to Figaro, the city councilor confides that he has not been placed under police protection and that he feels “an abandonment” on the part of the State. This general practitioner had lived with his family in the town for 32 years. The fire was the last straw since in addition to his departure from the town hall, Yannick Morez will leave this city located at the mouth of the Loire.
Without public reaction since the beginning of this affair, the President of the Republic reacted via Twitter to this rare resignation: “The attacks against Yannick Morez, mayor of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins, and against his family, are unworthy. this elected representative of the Republic, to his wife and children, I repeat my solidarity and that of the Nation”, he wrote.