A group of around 50 far-left activists stormed a nativity play involving children in Toulouse, shouting at the children and telling them they were “fascists”.
The mob of leftist extremists interrupted the nativity play at around 4 pm at the Place Saint-Georges and yelled, “stop the fascists!” along with “we are the anticapitalists!” and a torrent of insults towards the young children and the organisers, La Depeche reports.
As the young children became frightened, the nativity play was shut down a full two hours ahead of schedule and only an hour after it had begun.
“It was worse in the early days of Christians,” one witness to the protest said. They added: “All those who cry do not know that Jesus was not bourgeois, but poor, destitute. I feel sorry for them.”
Archbishop of Toulouse Robert Le Gall slammed the leftists in a press release stating: “I deplore that the simple reminder of the birth of Jesus and the values it conveys (welcoming the stranger, announcing peace, and a sign of tenderness that we all need) is no longer respected in our country and even arouses acts of verbal and physical violence by those who set themselves up as defenders of freedom.”
Mayor of Toulouse Jean-Luc Moudenc also condemned the leftist demonstrators, labelling their behaviour as “irresponsible”.
The incident is not the first time a nativity scene has caused controversy in France. Due to the country’s official secularism stance, populist mayor of Béziers Robert Ménard has been ordered by courts to remove nativity scenes placed in the city hall in the past.
Just days prior to the leftist protest in Toulouse, an atheist group on the United States forced an elementary school to remove its live nativity scene, enacted by third-grade students, following a threatening letter from the group.