"Political police": the opposition is protesting against the arrest of Yellow Vest Eric Drouet
From La France Insoumise (LFI) to Rassemblement National (RN) to Debout la France (DLB), Eric Drouet's arrest has been heavily criticised by the opposition,
which denounces an "authoritarian drift" by the government, and questions the reactions it would have provoked if it had taken place in Russia.
The arrest on 2 January of Eric Drouet - a member of the Yellow Vests movement - while participating in an undeclared rally to pay tribute to the wounded and dead on the fringes of the movement, provoked a strong reaction from the opposition.
The leader of LFI, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who had heavily praised Drouet a few days earlier, denounced in a Twitter message an "abuse of power". "
A political police now targets and harasses the leaders of the Yellow Vest movement," he said, before calling for Eric Drouet's release.
"The escalation of repression must stop," LFI speaker Danielle Simmonet said, indignant at
the "authoritarian drift" of Emmanuel Macron's power in order to be able to "continue to impose his policy at all costs in the service of the richest".
The Insoumis MP Adrien Quatennens has opted for derision,
drawing a parallel with the Benalla affair, which is once again putting the Elysée in difficulty. "Eric Drouet arrested. And Benalla is fine?", he wondered.
"If it were in Russia, self-righteous souls would be outraged!"
This arrest caused a similar reaction on the right of the political spectrum, as did Gilbert Collard, Member of Parliament for the Rassemblement national, who described it as "a real scandal". "If it were in Russia, self-righteous souls would be outraged," he said ironically in a Twitter message.
"The self-righteous souls who spend their day here spewing vomit at the yellow vests would rush to denounce these scenes, hand on heart and tear in the eye, if they took place in Russia or Trump's America," noted Les Patriotes' President Florian Philippot, summing up a sentiment common to several right-wing parties.
Marine Le Pen denounced: "Emmanuel Macron's snarly New Year's eve's address along with the
systematic violation of the political rights of his opponents paint a terribly worrying picture of Emmanuel Macron.
The analysis is also shared by Damien Lempereur, spokesman for the sovereignist party Debout la France.
"I expect - for the sake of consistency and intellectual honesty - the same outraged reactions from those who are outraged by the arrests in Moscow of Navalny for illegal demonstrations: editorialists, the EU, Bernard-Henry Levy, Glucksmann, LREM, the Socialist Party, etc.," he argued, stating that the government was focusing on both the wrong "opponent and priority".
Developing the idea that the government was not targeting the right enemy, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, President of Debout la France, sees Eric Drouet's arrest as
an expression of a power which is "harsh towards its political opponents but lax towards the scum, the S-card individuals, the rapists". "Enough with the double standards," he said, outraged.
Was the whole political class outraged? Almost....
For their part, the majority members defended the activist's arrest.
"This is called respect for the rule of law [...] When someone organizes a demonstration when it is not declared, it is because he does not respect the rule of law", justified Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire on France Inter.
"In a Republic, order is important[...] The Republic is not anarchy[...] It is normal that when one does not respect republican law, one pays the consequences," Minister of Public Accounts Gérald Darmanin said on CNews.
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