A mayor resigns in Haute-Saône after an attack and homophobic insults

MAYOR – This resignation sadly echoes that of the mayor of Saint-Brévin, after his house was burned down. This time, it is Lou Bailly-Biichlé, councilor of the small village of Vandelans, in Haute-Saône, who removes his scarf. The 55-year-old mayor was the victim of homophobic threats, violence and insults in March 2023, reports this Wednesday, May 17 The Republican Eastadding that this withdrawal was accepted by the prefect.

” It is a relief “, reacted Lou Bailly-Biichlé in the columns of the local daily. The facts date back to March 8, 2023. On that day, the mayor and his first deputy Cédric Grangeot noticed an Enedis van in front of a municipal dwelling. The electrician on site explains coming ” cut “ the electricity of the tenant living there, because she hasn’t paid her bill for two years.

« Aggression is a reason for my resignation”

“There, we told him of our astonishment because we were on a winter break”remembers the elected official who claims to be “leftist and ecologist”, adding that the cut request did not come from the town hall.

As soon as the electricity is disconnected, the woman living in the apartment throws herself on the deputy, knife in hand. Then verbally attacks the mayor, hurling homophobic insults at her. Lou Bailly-Biichlé claims to have already received “threatening messages from this tenant who was squatting in her daughter’s apartment”. If no one was injured, the two elected officials were extremely shocked. ” Aggression is a reason for my resignation, but it’s not the only one “, explains Lou Bailly-Biichlé to our colleagues.

Since December 2022, the city councilor of this town of some 100 inhabitants had already decided that she no longer wanted to bear this responsibility. “Very quickly in the team there was a person who was not very comfortable with the fact that I was mayor. This person got tired of me very quickly.” she says at the microphone of France Blue. It evokes a job that has become that of a “manager” of a municipality that had “no money », and a not always easy relationship with the community of communes.

For the time being, it is the first deputy Cédric Grangeot who is acting on the municipal council. But the Haute-Saône prefecture must set a date for new elections, in order to fill two vacancies of municipal councilors (in addition to the mayor, another councilor resigned recently, due to a move, reports France 3).

Regional secretary of EELV Franche-Comté, the former minister and presidential candidate Dominique Voynet deplored the departure of Lou Bailly-Biichlé. ” If the mayors remain the favorite elected representatives of the French, who appreciate their availability and their practical knowledge of the living conditions of the citizens, they are more and more often insulted, threatened and sometimes even physically attacked. “, she regretted in a press release.

This Wednesday, May 17, the resignation of Yannick Morrez, mayor of Saint-Brévin-les-Pins, a town where a project for a reception center for asylum seekers (Cada), was accepted by the prefect of Loire-Atlantique. Victim of pressure from the far right, his resignation had been pushed by a fire targeting his home, which had completely destroyed two of his vehicles and damaged part of his house.

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