The leader of the Greens, Marine Tondelier, confirmed that she filed a complaint against the RN mayor of Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais), Steeve Briois, for “public insults” after he referred to opponents, including her, as “Green Khmers” during a municipal council meeting.
In a post on her X account on Tuesday evening, the opposition elected official in Hénin-Beaumont denounced the mayor’s “attacks” as a way to “bully and insult the opposition on a daily basis”, stating that “for twelve years” Steeve Briois has been engaging in “humiliations and intimidations” to silence them.
During the municipal council on November 18, the mayor of this National Rally stronghold repeatedly referred to opposition elected officials as “Taliban” and “hysterical.” He also stated, “You are Green Khmers who can’t stand anything,” as seen in a video of the session.
I filed a complaint against the RN mayor of Hénin-Beaumont.
Because sometimes, you have to know when to say stop.
For twelve years, Steeve Briois has used his position as mayor to bully and insult the opposition on a daily basis.
These attacks particularly take place during the municipal council.
In her complaint filed with the Bethune court (Pas-de-Calais) on February 11 and reviewed by AFP, the leader of the Greens, who is not running in the March 15 municipal elections, also claimed that Mr. Briois called her “Attila Tondelier” and described her as “worse than Stalin.” “Regardless of the outcome of this complaint, it also serves as a wake-up call,” she added on X.
The debate during the municipal council meeting focused on the delegation of public services by the town hall in the field of early childhood. Ms. Tondelier “simply questioned the mayor about the choice” of the private company People and Baby, “to manage the town’s nursery,” her lawyer Me Tewfik Bouzenoune told AFP shortly after the council.
“The terms used fall under freedom of expression already employed between political opponents,” defended Mr. Briois when contacted by AFP in November. He accused Ms. Tondelier of “insulting us and insulting the +fachos+ population.”
