De "Nicolas président" à "Bienvenue Sarkozy": quand un ancien chef d'Etat français part en prison
"Nicolas, come back quickly": Around a hundred people gathered early Tuesday morning outside the home of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to "support" him before he leaves for La Santé prison.
From dawn, around 7:30 a.m. (5:30 a.m. GMT), a large police presence cordoned off the streets surrounding the former president's home, the Villa Montmorency, a private neighborhood in the affluent 16th arrondissement, in the west of Paris.
At this time, only a few supporters are already there, ahead of the meeting launched a few days earlier on social networks by Louis, one of the sons of the former head of state.
There are currently more journalists, including many from foreign media.
Marie-Joséphine Paysa, an 80-year-old Parisian who claims to have "always been right-wing," came before sunrise "to support him."
Prya Martin, 62, left her home in the Paris suburbs at 6:30 a.m. to make sure she was there on time.
Support for the former president (2007-2012) is gradually pouring in to the gates of the Montmorency villa, where two French flags have been hung. One of them reads, "Courage Nicolas, come back soon."
Protesters also waved tricolor flags.
- "Soviet Union" -
"Nicolas, President!" and "Nicolas, to the Élysée!" the crowd regularly chants. Nostalgics even bring the official framed portrait of the former president.
At 8:30 a.m., there were now around a hundred of them, the majority with graying temples, singing the national anthem "La Marseillaise" at regular intervals.
They are given T-shirts with the image of "Sarko" and the inscription "The end of history is not written...".
Among the supporters are also figures from the French right: former European deputy Gérard Longuet, former deputies Christian Jacob and Henri Guaino, and former French police chief Frédéric Péchenard.
Several participants were moved to tears, like this resident of the 16th arrondissement, who denounced the "political trial" which resulted in his sentence to five years in prison, with immediate effect, in the case of Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign.
An opinion widely shared among the crowd: the participants protested against a judicial decision that they considered "unjust" and "inadmissible," speaking of a France "governed by petty judges."
"We're in the Soviet Union!" one protester even goes so far as to protest.
"This imprisonment achieves nothing, except to humiliate Nicolas Sarkozy and humiliate our country," said Valérie Ghibeaux, 66. "It's a sad day for France," declared Flora Amanou, 41.
- "There's Sarkozy" -
Nicolas Sarkozy's children, Jean, Louis and Giulia, are the first to leave.
Around 9:10 a.m., the former president appeared, his expression grim, wearing a shirt and blazer. Holding hands with his wife, Carla Bruni, dressed entirely in black, he stepped forward to greet the crowd and embrace his children.
Then he hugs his wife, gives his supporters a final salute, before getting into the car, to applause and cheers. The car is headed to La Santé prison, about ten kilometers away.
The convoy arrived shortly before 9:40 a.m. in front of the prison, where a demonstration by prison guards had taken place at dawn to denounce prison overcrowding.
The prison doors close behind the former president.
A few welcoming whistles pierce the high walls of the Santé building. "Sarkozy's here," shouts one inmate. Another calls out: "Oh! Welcome Sarkozy!"
Commentaires (21)
la loi devrait être plus dure pour ceux qui ont eu de hautes responsabilités s'il finissent par être condamnés, au lieu de quoi ce sont toujours les petits délinquants qui paient
l'incarcération d'un ex président doit devenir une banalité pour que les hommes élus ne jouent avec le pouvoir ...
Le ministre de l’Intérieur Laurent Nuñez a justifié ce mercredi la décision de placer deux policiers chargés de la sécurité de Nicolas Sarkozy dans une cellule voisine de la sienne à la prison de la Santé.
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