A woman has been arrested for allegedly comparing French President Emmanuel Macron to “trash” on social media, in the latest crackdown on free speech in the supposed home of liberté in Europe.
Last Friday, Valérie, a middle-aged woman in the Saint-Martin-lez-Tatinghem commune of the Calais region of France, was greeted at her home by three police officers, who arrested her for supposedly insulting French President Macron on Facebook under the controversial criminal code that criminalises spreading “contempt of public officials”.
Valérie first came onto the police’s radar after she was pictured in front of some graffiti calling the French leader “trash”, which officers believed she was responsible for writing, a claim she denies. The police went on to confront her with a post on Facebook that she wrote on Tuesday of last week, which said ahead of a Macron press conference: “The trash will talk tomorrow at 1 p.m., for people who are nothing, it is always (sic) on TV that we find the trash.”
Two demonstrators take refuge under graffiti where it says “trash macron” during the inter-union demonstration on May 1 in Paris, which also included yellow vests, in Paris, France, on May 1, 2019. (Photo by Emeric Fohlen/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
For this, she was arrested and will be tried on June 20th, when she faces up to a year in jail and a fine of up to €15,000. The vaguely worded statute under which she will be charged, criminalises statements deemed to “affect the personal dignity or the respect owed to a public official”.
Speaking to the local La Voix du Nord newspaper, Valérie claimed that she was being made an “example of”, adding that when police showed up at her door: “I asked them if it was a joke; it’s the first time I’ve been arrested… I am not public enemy number one.”
Valérie went on to tell the newspaper that she had not even intended to call the head of state “trash” in her post, claiming that it was a result of an autocorrect function, claiming that she had intended to refer to Macron has “hard gold” (l’or dur in French) but the autocorrect changed to “trash” (l’ordure) and that she did not check it over before posting.
Despite the arrest and potential prison time, the veteran protester of the Gillet Juanes (Yellow Vests) vowed to continue her activism, saying: “We are in a period when intimidation is strong and it is done on activists… We will continue to demonstrate and publish but I will read more carefully.”
She said that she will continue the fight against “this totally unfair pension reform. I am fighting for social justice. I have been an activist for about twenty years and if necessary, I will be for another two years.”
The arrest comes amid nationwide protests, riots, and labour union-led strikes in response to President Macron’s government using a constitutional loophole to pass through its controversial pension reform plans without a vote.
According to a previous Amnesty International report, despite professing to believe in principles of freedom, the government of France uses “vague laws” to target protesters such as “contempt of public officials”, “participation in a group with a view to committing violent acts” and “organising a protest without complying with notification requirements”, with over 40,000 people being convicted of such offences between 2018 and 2019, alone.
“Participation in protest in France today carries the risk of exposure to tear gas, rubber bullets and other dangerous weapons; receiving a fine; spending a day or two in pre-charge detention; and facing criminal charges without having committed violent acts,” the report noted.
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