Demonstrators outside the town hall claimed that abandoning secularism was ‘giving in to the Islamists’. Photo / Nelly Barba, Le Parisien
Demonstrators outside the town hall claimed that abandoning secularism was ‘giving in to the Islamists’. Photo / Nelly Barba, Le Parisien
A nativity scene in a French town hall has sparked protests against its apparent violation of the country’s secularism laws.
The centre-Right mayor of Beziers, in southern France, has gone ahead with the Christmas display despite public buildings in France being banned from hosting religious iconography.
Demonstrators gathered to jeerRobert Menard, the mayor, outside the town hall on Saturday.
This is the 11th year that Menard has set up a nativity scene, and he has been convicted eight times over the display.
“The nativity scene is great! But not here,” read one sign at the protest.
Another sign warned of the potential consequences of overriding the separation between church and state, saying: “To trample on secularism is to give in to the Islamists”.
The controversial nativity scene in the town hall at Beziers. Photo / Getty Images
Signs also pointed out that the separation of church and state was enshrined in French law in 1905.
Article 28 of the law stipulates: “It is prohibited, in the future, to erect or affix any religious sign or emblem on public monuments or in any public place, with the exception of buildings used for worship, burial grounds in cemeteries, funerary monuments, and museums or exhibitions”.
Menard defended his decision and said his critics were “grumpy people” who were playing politics before municipal elections next year.
“The nativity scene… is where we come together, because it’s our roots and those of all the people of Beziers,” the mayor told a television station.
He also plans to host a celebration of Hanukkah on December 15 in the town hall courtyard, an event that protesters have also denounced.
“On the church steps, at your house, at my house, the nativity scene poses no problem,” Sophie Mazas, a lawyer and activist with the League of Human Rights, told Le Parisien.
“But in the name of the principle of secularism and the 1905 law on the separation of church and state, whose 120th anniversary we are celebrating this year, a nativity scene has no place in the courtyard of a town hall.”
Menard is one of about 10 mayors in France who set up nativity scenes in their town halls, in defiance of annual court orders.
Last year, the town of Beaucaire, in Gard, which is headed by a mayor from the far-Right National Rally, was fined €120,000 ($242,845) for refusing to remove its nativity scene.
Louis Aliot, the mayor of Perpignan and vice-president of National Rally, also sets up nativity scenes in his town hall every year.
“Every year, we [make] a guest book available. It contains between 20,000 and 25,000 signatures. People love it,” Menard said.
“The nativity scene is a moment that brings everyone together. Here we don’t proselytise, we simply remind everyone of a message of love.”
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor’s Picks, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week’s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here.
