Saturday June 6, shortly before 7 p.m., the socialist mayor of the 10th arrondissement, Alexandra Cordebard, was attacked by “far-right fundamentalist activists”, according to a press release from the City of Paris. These activists first “sought to prevent the opening of the Saint-Laurent church”, boulevard Magenta, where a work by the artist Marie-Luce Nadal was presented as part of the 25th Nuit Blanche from June 6 to 7, a major contemporary art event throughout the city of Paris.
An attack preceded by a street prayer
“Following this first action, the collective organized a street prayer near the building, owned by the City of Paris, attacked and attacked the mayor of the 10th arrondissement,” according to the press release. The elected official specified on the social network X: “I was rushed with my team. I personally received blows from these individuals, who wanted to prevent us from entering. » The City of Paris announced on Saturday evening that it wanted to file a complaint.
In another press release, Paris MP Pouria Amirshahi (Ecologist and Social group) accuses the “small, anti-Semitic and homophobic fundamentalist far-right group” Civitas, officially dissolved by the government at the end of 2023, of being responsible for this action. Civitas is in fact still active in Switzerland and Belgium, where it is not prohibited, and on social networks.
Support from the City of Paris for artists
Shortly before the attack, the collective had called on its activists to disrupt this edition of Nuit Blanche, whose artistic director, DJ Barbara Butch, has been the target of cyberharassment since her performance during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. The socialist senator of Paris Rémi Féraud, former mayor of the 10th arrondissement, reacted on X: “Once again, the far right shows its hatred of freedom and culture. »
According to the municipality, after the intervention of the police, greeted on “The City provides its full support to the artist and reaffirms its attachment to artistic freedom, the plurality of cultural expressions and democratic debate,” underlines the press release.
