Philippe Bouty, the president of the Charente Limousine Community of Commons, was surprised to discover the doors of his home and garage blocked with polyurethane foam, reported the departmental daily Charente libre.
On Monday, January 21 in the morning, the official, known to be “a supporter of Emmanuel Macron”, could not leave his home in Confolens. He eventually managed to escape through a window, but he was also surprised to find the same foam that obstructed the door, was present in the exhaust of his car.
“I started my car and did not realize what the noise was. After a while, exhaust gases were coming back into the car,” explained Bouty, who also announced that he had lodged a complaint.
Polyurethane foam is an insulation composed of fine cells with low thermal conductivity. When it dries, it swells and solidifies. It is known for its efficiency and its lower cost. Four bank branch distributors were also targeted the same night, by using the same procedure.
“The home of an elected official was attacked, a symbol of the Republic,” the victim complained. “We can not let this go because they are vandalist acts and this is not how we manage to solve problems, it is rather through dialogue,” he continued, stressing that he was “neither a supporter nor an opponent of this movement” of Yellow Vests.
Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux meanwhile branded two of the leading public figures of the Yellow Vest rebellion as “dissenters” seeking to overthrow President Emmanuel Macron.
In an interview with the French television channel CNews, Europe1 radio and newspaper Les Echos, Griveaux said Eric Drouet and Maxime Nicolle, who are recognised as the movement’s de facto leaders, were “seditious rebels” whose only goal was to “topple” Macron using “violent” methods.
He said: “I’ve said it once before and I’ll say it again. Mr Drouet and Mr Nicolle have one objective: use force and violence to overthrow the country’s institutions, the government and the president of the Republic himself. I have always distinguished between [protesters] who are open to dialogue and have put on a yellow vest because they can’t make ends meet, and [violent] rebels.”
The mobilization of the Yellow Vests have now entered the realm of children’s games, Valeurs Actuelles reported.
At schools this year it is the Yellow Vests against Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité abbreviated CRS, which is the general reserve of the French National Police. The ubiquitous yellow movement that has been in the media for months already, is emulated in primary school, reported BFMTV . In recess classes “Macron’s resignation” is also hotly discussed by the children.
“The Yellow Vests are the bad guys. They break the windows. So we have a fight between the bad guys and the police. I prefer to be a Yellow Vest police officer, I do not like running,” says Adam, 6 years old.
“We hear ‘Macron’s resignation’ all day long in the yard, and even in class,” confirmed a teacher of CE1 Reinforced Priority Education Network in Dreux, Eure-et-Loir.
“We were forced to ban these songs, explaining to them that they did not have to say that, that they were not yet voters. Many children tell me: ‘If I go out quickly, Mom promised me we would go see the Yellow Vests’. They want to do selfies with them, see the hooting trucks. This is the attraction of the neighbourhood,” says the teacher, whose school is located a few hundred meters from a highway roundabout where Yellow Vests have gathered.
“What’s worrying society, comes into schoolyards. The more the reality is violent and disturbing, the more children try to tame it through their games, their staging and their discussions,” a child psychiatrist Marie-Rose Moro told BFMTV.