At dusk on Friday, December 8, almost 200 people gathered on Quissac's market square to take part in the "Republican rally" called by Michel Sala. The radical left MP (NUPES-LFI) from southern France sought to react quickly to the distribution of neo-Nazi leaflets in this small town some 40 kilometers from Nîmes. The town's mayor, Serge Cathala, did not attend the demonstration.
According to the gendarmerie, some 50 anti-Semitic and homophobic leaflets featuring swastikas and Third Reich eagles were dropped in the mailboxes of two of the town's housing estates in late November and early December. "White man, are you tired of seeing the Jews destroy your country through immigration, pedo-LGBT degeneration and war? Join us in re-establishing the white race's dominance in Europe," said the message signed by the Département d’Eveil Racial du Peuple (People's Department of Racial Awakening). A QR code and an Internet address led to the website Dempart (for démocratie participative, participatory democracy), which detailed the next steps: "Copy your leaflets (black and white) in computer stores (pay in cash). (...) At night (ideally, from 01:00 to 03:00 am.). Never in your town..."
These posters were similar to those found in May in La Neuville-Chant-d'Oisel (Normandy), near Rouen, where three men aged 22 to 25 were given suspended prison sentences on December 5 for "public condoning of crime" and "incitement to hatred." An investigation was opened in southern France. Sala and the Communist Party's departmental federation referred the case to the Nîmes public prosecutor, Cécile Gensac.
Quissac is a small, quiet village of 3,200 inhabitants in a semi-rural area with the Cevennes mountains looming on the horizon. It has always been attached to the Cevennes' tradition of resistance and welcoming foreigners, rooted in this region since the religious wars of the 16th century. Over the last ten years or so, several groups have been welcoming migrants, notably from Afghanistan, and helping them to integrate.
At the same time, however, the Rassemblement National (RN, far right) has been making headway in the town. During the course of one presidential term, Marine Le Pen's party gained a lasting foothold in the town, winning 56.80% of the vote in the second round of the 2022 election (almost 10 points up from 2017). Sala, the "LFI" MP is also one of the only survivors of the last legislative elections in his département, where four out of six seats went to the RN.
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