'Santons' in a nativity scene. Photo supplied
French state goes to court to take down nativity scene
The conservative, anti-immigration mayor of a French town is celebrating Christmas with a nativity scene, but the subprefect has announced that a summary charge will be filed in the administrative court of Montpellier against him.
Published: December 5, 2018, 6:41 am
Béziers
Robert Ménard has once again set up a Biblical nativity scene in the town hall of Béziers and thus the legal battle around the crib of Béziers will resume.
Ménard ordered the manger display in the courtyard of the town hall of his city and, according to regional daily Midi Libre, the subprefect is taking him to court, claiming that the installation at the city council does not respect the law of 1905 on the separation of the Church and the State.
La #creche de #Béziers est inaugurée. Vive nos racines ! pic.twitter.com/NPxSwPfnK9
— Robert Ménard (@RobertMenardFR) December 3, 2018
In the regional daily, Christian Pouget demanded “the immediate removal of the crib”. According to the subprefect, “in the case of the Christmas festivities, there are thirty-six thousand places where he could, without any difficulty, put the crib. He chose to do it in town hall. It is a deliberate desire to trample on the 1905 law”. Adding that it was “for the judge to decide,” the subprefect said that Ménard did not install the manger at the town hall “inadvertently”.
It is interesting to note that Ménard was elected, while the subprefect has no such legitimacy. He is a political appointment, imposing his will on the inhabitants.
The controversy was started in 2014, when Ménard installed a manger at the town hall. The Administrative Court of Appeal of Marseille then annulled in April 2017 a decision of the administrative court of Montpellier which had validated the decision of Ménard to install a manger at the city hall.
The Conseil d’Etat estimated in November 2017 that nativity scenes should be banned in public spaces, “unless there are particular circumstances that show that this installation is of a cultural, artistic or festive nature”.
The small figurines in a Nativity scene, known as Santons [little saints] in the Provençal dialect, represent a industry in the south of France.
Usually hand-painted, the terracotta figurines represent various characters from the life of a Provençal village, together with biblical characters.
Mary, Joseph, the donkey and the ox, the three Wise Men intermingle with typical Provençal village characters like the town crier, the poacher, an elderly couple Grasset and Grasseto, and the washerwoman.
Santons are produced in workshops around in Provence but the most famous and specialised sellers are found at the Santons Fair in Marseille and Aix-en-Provence. Initially set up on the first Sunday of Advent, static Nativity scenes usually remain on display in France until February.
All rights reserved. You have permission to quote freely from the articles provided that the source (www.freewestmedia.com) is given. Photos may not be used without our consent.
Consider donating to support our work
Help us to produce more articles like this. FreeWestMedia is depending on donations from our readers to keep going. With your help, we expose the mainstream fake news agenda.
Keep your language polite. Readers from many different countries visit and contribute to Free West Media and we must therefore obey the rules in, for example, Germany. Illegal content will be deleted.
If you have been approved to post comments without preview from FWM, you are responsible for violations of any law. This means that FWM may be forced to cooperate with authorities in a possible crime investigation.
If your comments are subject to preview by FWM, please be patient. We continually review comments but depending on the time of day it can take up to several hours before your comment is reviewed.
We reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, contain slander or foul language, or are irrelevant to the discussion.
Europe
Thousands of Flemish farmers block roads in Brussels against nitrogen policy
BrusselsMore than 2500 farmers from Belgium's Dutch-speaking Flanders region gathered at Brussels' central Arts-Loi street and blocked roads with tractors toward Brussels to protest the regional government's plan to limit nitrogen emissions.
Orban: EU energy sanctions costing citizens billions
BudapestHungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has warned that some western states could soon send troops to Ukraine. He also criticized the fact that the EU sanctions against Russia had cost Hungarian taxpayers tens of billions of euros.
Italy: New leader of the Social Democrats is one of Soros’ ‘preferred politicians’
RomeDuring the election campaign, Elly Schlein presented herself as the standard-bearer of the poorest. However, her background and previous work raise doubts about her honesty.
UK greenhouses shut down due to high energy costs
LondonIn Great Britain, a particularly depressing facet of the crisis is now showing its first contours - and thus anticipating what is likely to happen in other European countries in the near future: because of the exploding energy prices, agriculture is being strangled and fresh produce has to be rationed.
Lisbon opens borders to all Portuguese speakers
LisbonNot only the German and Italian governments keep opening new paths for immigration. Portugal, too, has opened a Pandora's box and is paving the way for possibly millions of non-European immigrants to the EU – something which is not mentioned by the mainstream media.
Illegal immigration to Italy has reached its highest level ever
RomeIn Italy, despite the overwhelming right-wing electoral success in September, there is still nothing to be seen of the promised asylum turnaround – on the contrary. Giorgia Meloni has been in office for five months, but the arrivals of migrants in Italy have doubled compared to the previous year.
Dismantling diplomacy with ‘feminist foreign policy’
BudapestGerman Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) wants to counter German security issues abroad with feminist politics. Gender training, LGBTQ events and quotas are now part of their new guidelines, which are intended to bring about "cultural change". The German ambassador to Hungary, Julia Gross, provided an embarrassing example.
Germans demand investigation of Nord Stream sabotage
BerlinAfter the sensational revelations by US investigative reporter Seymour Hersh about the perpetrators of the Nord Stream attacks on September 26, 2022, the German government has remained silent. It does not want to comment on Hersh's research results, according to which the pipelines were blown up by Americans and Norwegians.
Macron mulling withdrawal of Putin’s Legion of Honour award
ParisAt the end of Jacques Chirac's term in 2007, France and Russia still maintained cordial relations. During his speech at a tripartite summit, the French president had even mentioned bilateral relations that were "excellent in all respects, particularly in the fields of energy, infrastructure and aeronautics".
