The day of the first round of legislative elections in Nice began in a tense atmosphere. A violent fight took place at a polling station in the commune of Alpes-Maritimes: the assessor appointed by Eric Ciotti’s team hit the chairman of the polling station at the Baumet school. The “physical attack” was condemned “with the greatest firmness” by Mayor Christian Estrosi, who said the man had been arrested, while the President of the Republic of Lithuania said he had “dismissed” the perpetrator. According to our information, the attacked president filed a complaint.
It was the city councilman who first reported the incident to his office before striking its president.” “He has just been arrested by the national police, whom I thank for their responsiveness. I am further strengthening security around polling stations everywhere,” added Christian Estrosi, a longtime opponent of the Republican president.
Eric Ciotti, candidate for re-election in the 1st district of the Alpes-Maritimes, responded by “expressing his support for the president of the polling station” in the face of this “clearly inappropriate behavior” which he “condemns.” Var-Matin. “We immediately recalled any delegation,” he also assured the regional newspaper.
“A few minutes ago, at the Baumetts polling station, there was an unfortunate altercation between two elderly activists. An unfortunate but resolvable dispute: we also removed this person from the polling station,” his team told franceinfo.
“The President was shocked”
On the spot, witnesses explained to Le Parisien that they saw the assessor “pushing the president.” “He wanted to hit him. We had to take him away,” they tell us. Tensions began to mount even before the office opened, explains Bastien Nespoulous, general director of services for the city and metropolitan area of Nice.
“The assessor appointed by Eric Ciotti’s team was causing problems in the office. The agitated man abandoned his composition, believing that there were not enough people, although there were five of them,” he rewinds. The assessor, a “great gentleman” who is “over 70 years old”, also criticized the polling station chairman for being a “chief of staff”.
Tensions escalated further when a septuagenarian man “obstructed the door, refusing to open while voters waited at 8am.” “The president asked him to stop, and then another punched him in the temple,” recalls Bastien Nespoulous. Having arrived at the scene himself at about 8:45 am, he noticed that the man was being arrested by the national police, but “he did not allow this, they had to gather in groups of four or five people to handcuff him.” “The President, a strong man, was shocked. He filed a complaint,” he also points out.
According to the precinct president, she “heard a raised voice” at a neighboring polling station: “I heard: You can’t open it! You don’t have the right! “,” she explains, adding that she advised the president, who was the target of an attack, “to press the emergency button on his work phone” to provoke the police to arrive, “which he did.”
Source: Le Parisien
I have worked in the news industry for over 12 years. I have a vast amount of experience in different areas of the industry, including politics. I am currently a political news writer for 24 News Recorder. I have also written a book about politics. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, as well as traveling.
