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POLITICS

French island MP pelted with seaweed by anti health-pass protesters

French politicians from across the spectrum on Monday condemned an attack on a lawmaker from the North Atlantic overseas territory of Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon by protesters against the government's Covid-19 health pass.

French island MP pelted with seaweed by anti health-pass protesters
Protesters outside the home of MP Stephane Claireaux Photo: Jean-Christophe Lespagnol/AFP

Video circulating on social media showed Stephane Claireaux, an MP from from President Emmanuel Macron’s ruling party, being pelted at the weekend with seaweed and dirt by jeering protesters outside his home on the windswept territory off the Canadian island of Newfoundland.

The images are “quite horrifying. It’s a further level of violence against elected officials,” minister for relations with parliament Marc Fesneau told broadcaster Public Senat.

Sunday’s attack came a few days ahead of the introduction of France’s health pass in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, home to fewer than 6,000 people. The measure, long in place in mainland France, requires people to present proof of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test to enter public spaces like bars.

“We have to condemn such attacks, because in the end it’s totalitarianism if you subject local or national elected officials to physical pressure… That’s not acceptable in a democracy,” Fesneau said.

Claireaux had earlier told broadcaster France Info that he had been waiting for the demonstrators outside his home “so as to talk to them”.

“There was a car loaded with seaweed… and people started chucking it at me. It was like being stoned. My wife came out to join me on the front step. I dodged a rock that missed our faces by five centimetres,” he said.

Claireaux added that he would be filing criminal charges against those responsible.

“People are free to think that we’re not making the right decisions. We’re all getting death threats by email. At some point this has to stop,” he said.

Christophe Castaner, leader of Macron’s party in parliament, told France Inter radio there had been 322 threats against MPs in 2021 – two-thirds of them against the ruling party.

Tensions over health measures have risen in France since Macron last week said he planned to “piss off” the unvaccinated until they accepted shots.

“Some anti-vaxxers use the president’s provocative statements to justify their violence. But nothing can justify it. These acts are deeply shocking, especially outside a family’s private home,” Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure said.

Meanwhile senior conservative MP Eric Ciotti said the incident was just one among many “excesses that are taking an extraordinarily worrying and dangerous turn”, calling for “heavy punishments for those who use violence”.

But he also attacked Macron for “seeking conflict, seeking tension, seeking to divide for political reasons”.

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POLITICS

Joint leader of Sweden’s Green Party announces resignation

Märta Stenevi, the embattled leader of Sweden's Green Party, has said she is resigning to focus on her mental health, her children and her partner.

Joint leader of Sweden's Green Party announces resignation

The decision comes less than three weeks after Stenevi took an indefinite period of sick leave, saying that she needed time to recover after a bruising period that saw the party launch an internal investigation into complaints about her management style.

There has also been extensive press coverage over the alleged conflict she has with Daniel Hellden, the man chosen as the party’s other leader at a conference in November. 

“This is a very difficult decision,” Stenevi told the Aftonbladet newspaper. “I put myself forward for reelection and received a renewed mandate from the congress, but I don’t believe I can be my best self right now and I don’t really know how long it will take to get back on my feet.”

“The party deserves better than to be in some kind of limbo, where one of the spokespeople [as the party calls its leaders] cannot fully carry out the role. And I need to focus on getting better again, being a good mum and a pleasant partner.”  

Writing on Instagram, Stenevi’s joint leader Daniel Helldén said that he was sorry to see Stenevi go. 

“I have respect for her decision, but personally I think it’s a real shame. I have very much enjoyed working together with Märtha,” he said. 

Stenevi said that the leaks to the media about complaints about her management style in the autumn had been difficult for her to handle. 

“It put me under enormous pressure. It wasn’t the media attention: I understand that you are going to be continually criticised and investigated, but what happened in the autumn was that there was a lot of anonymous briefing, so you didn’t know who you could trust or where it was coming from, and that made it much more difficult and much more draining.” 

When Stenevi went on sick leave last month, the party’s secretary, Katrin Wissing, told TT that her relationship with Daniel Helldén had not played a role in her departure.

“On the contrary, Daniel has been giving Märta extremely good support,” she said. 

Although Stenevi is resigning as party leader, she intends to remain in parliament is an MP, and has not decided to give up her career in politics. 

“When I’m back on track, I’ll see what happens, but I don’t feel completely finished with politics,” she said. “But this is the right decision, both for me, my family and my party.” 

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