France takes secularism very seriously, to the point of sometimes provoking political and citizen controversies that lead to lawsuits. This has happened in Perpignan, whose City Council has received a court order to remove the nativity scene installed in the courtyard of the town hall on the grounds that it violates the 1905 law on the strict separation between the State and the churches.
The Montpellier administrative court sided with the League of Human Rights (LDH), which had filed an urgent appeal against the City Council of the Roussillon capital. The decision, taken on Wednesday of this week, stipulates that municipal officials must remove the Christmas nativity scene within 24 hours, under penalty of incurring a fine of one hundred euros for each day that the nativity scene is still there.
According to lawyer Sophie Mazas, who is the president of the LDH in the Hérault department, the nativity scene violates the 1905 law because it is a clearly Catholic representation, with the presence of Joseph, Mary, Baby Jesus and the three Wise Men. . The LDH does not deny that it is a local Catalan tradition but maintains that the place to celebrate it is not the City Hall, a public headquarters, but the Saint-Jean cathedral. The organization that defends secularism deplores that the City Council has violated the law with impunity in the last ten years and that the prefect has not acted.
The mayor of Perpignan, Louis Aliot, who is also the vice president of the National Rally (RN, extreme right), reacted with indignation to the court ruling. Aliot announced at a press conference that the order will be respected, albeit with a delay. The manger will not be dismantled until the reopening of the schools, on January 2, claiming that the technical staff to carry out the operation will be on vacation. "Unfortunately, the League of Human Rights and other political organizations have decided to use the secularism of the Republic and administrative justice to hinder the expression of our traditions, our heritage and, more generally, to prevent us from being who we are. "said the mayor.
Aliot estimated that the court's decision is "in total disagreement with the enthusiasm and admiration aroused by the manger, visited by thousands of people since November 25." The city, according to the mayor, "reaffirms its commitment to all the elements of our Catalan culture, of which the nativity scene is a part". "Today is the manger, tomorrow will be what, Sant Jordi?" He warned. The amount of the fines for the delay in dismantling the nativity scene will be paid by municipal councilors, from his own pocket. They have offered to donate that money to the city.
The municipal lawyer, Delphine Joubes, had argued that it is not about promoting a specific cult, but about honoring a Catalan tradition that goes beyond the religious beliefs of the people. The lawyer insisted that the nativity scene is inside the patio, in a place that is not an obligatory step for those who go to the City Hall to carry out administrative procedures.
Joubes recalled that the patio is dedicated to the Catalan identity of Perpignan and that it is also the place where Sant Jordi is celebrated. "There is no reason to suppress the nativity scene - indicated the lawyer, in statements collected by the newspaper L'Indépendant -. It is a tradition and in no case a sign of proselytism". The lawyer emphasized, like the mayor, the civic success of the nativity scene, since there is a paid photographic device, a photo booth, which has already registered 8,000 users. "This shows that people come to see this attraction," Joubes stressed.
A week ago a similar judicial decision was handed down against the Béziers City Council, about a hundred kilometers north of Perpignan. Both cities have a mayor from the extreme right. Robert Ménard, co-founder of Reporters Without Borders, has governed Béziers since 2014. Although he is not a member of Le Pen's party, the National Rally (RN, former National Front), this formation supported him from the outset and did not present a candidate alternative. Louis Aliot, who was a partner of Marine Le Pen, contested the elections, in 2020, without the symbol of his party and with allies from other political backgrounds.
On November 16, the Council of State confirmed the ban on the nativity scene at Beaucaire Town Hall, in the Gard department. This town also has a far-right mayor, Julien Sanchez.
The 1905 law does not apply to Alsace and Moselle because these territories belonged to the German Reich (empire) at that time. In these regions, the concordat signed by Napoleon I with the Holy See is still in force. This means that the priests – and also the Protestant pastors and the Jewish rabbis – as well as the laymen employed by these confessions, receive a salary from the State, as if they were civil servants. In these areas religion classes are offered in schools, although parents can request that their children be exempted from attending.
