This summer, the number of assaults on mayors seems to rise alarmingly in France. Enough so that the political leaders are calling for emergency steps from the government.

Miribel-Les-Échelles, Croisilles, Saint-Philippe-d’Aiguille. These three villages, with a population of no more than 2,000 inhabitants, have been in the spotlight over the last few days. And for the same sad reason: their mayor was attacked in mid-summer.

Each time it is more or less the same story. In a small town, the mayor is called in to stop a night disturbance, a wild party or fireworks. The matter becomes more and more heated, the culprits refuse to comply and the mayor is pushed, hit and beaten up.

According to figures from the Interior Ministry published in the Journal du Dimanche newspaper, “violence against persons holding public authority” is on the rise.

Since January, 233 mayors or assistants have been assaulted. This is an increase of 14% compared to the same period a year earlier (198 cases).

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Mayors call for “specific and aggravated” sanctions

The trend over the last two years also suggests that this increase is continuing. In 2019, 388 assaults followed the 361 recorded in 2018.

It reached a new low at the beginning of August 2019 when Jean-Mathieu Michel, elected representative of the small town of Signes, in the Var department (southeastern France), was killed while trying to prevent a van from unloading waste in an unauthorised dump.

Almost one year after this drama, those guilty still have not been sentenced. And this worries the Association of French Mayors (AMF), which calls in the Journal du Dimanche columns for “specific and aggravated” sanctions to be taken “more quickly”.

“This situation has gone on too long and angers all the mayors,” the AMF emphasises.

Regarding the support messages sent by the government, especially the new Interior Ministry, Gérald Darmanin, it is time, according to the body chaired by François Baroin, to do better: “Beyond compassion, the government must take action if it really wants to protect” France’s mayors and assistants.

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Small steps, but…

For the time being, “the mayor is often discouraged and tempted to give up”, as lamented by Philippe Bas, a senator from The Republicans political party, who last week wrote to Prime Minister Jean Castex to urge him to take action.

The chairman of the Senate’s law commission – an institution whose electorate is largely formed of elected municipal council members – is calling for “a government plan for the security of mayors”. It calls for the setting up of support units for elected officials who have been attacked.

A law introduced in December strengthens their legal protection and the former Minister of Justice Nicole Belloubet asked prosecutors in November, via a circular, to pursue a “firm criminal policy” in such cases. But the figures show that this is not enough to ensure the safety of elected representatives.

“We have to halt the trend of accepting an unacceptable phenomenon,” says Philippe Bas in the Journal du Dimanche, which suggests several ways of doing this. He suggests several options, such as the establishment of fixed fines in case of municipal by-law violations, for example.

The Interior Ministry has said it is studying these proposals.