The mayor of Périgueux, Michel Cadet, has been accused of sidelining an opposition councillor from a commemoration ceremony after she silently turned her back to express disagreement with the presence of a National Rally (RN) member of parliament.
The incident took place on Wednesday, August 19, during ceremonies marking the 82nd anniversary of the Liberation of Périgueux, in the Périgord region of southwestern France. Elected officials, state representatives, military personnel and flag bearers gathered to pay tribute to resistance fighters and victims of the German Occupation, according to regional newspaper Sud-Ouest.
Among those present was Nadine Lechon, the RN member of parliament for the local constituency.
A 'silent' and 'peaceful' gesture
As Lechon stepped forward to lay a wreath, Aurélie Folgado, a Communist Party opposition councillor in Périgueux, chose to turn around to express her political disagreement. Folgado acknowledged the gesture in an open letter published on August 21 addressed to Cadet, the right-wing mayor.
Folgado said that during the final stage of the ceremony, in front of the city's Wall of the Executed (Mur des Fusillés), she was approached by the mayor's chief of staff, accompanied by two councillors from the ruling majority. According to her account, she was asked not to stand in the row of elected officials for that final part of the commemoration.
In her open letter, Folgado asked whether an opposition councillor could be excluded from a republican ceremony for silently and peacefully expressing disagreement with the presence of a far-right elected official, and whether a municipal executive could claim the right to decide which opinions may be expressed and which must be silenced.
The mayor responds
Cadet responded quickly, in a letter posted on his social media accounts. He rejected the idea that free speech had been violated, saying the issue was not the opinion held by the opposition councillor but the place and moment she chose to express it.
He wrote that a commemorative ceremony is not a political rally, adding that such gatherings are meant to honour the dead and victims regardless of the political convictions of participants.
According to Cadet, Folgado's position as a municipal councillor requires her to maintain an attitude of restraint, respect and dignity.
Resistance memory at the centre of the dispute
Sud-Ouest reported that since Lechon's election as MP in 2024, her participation in certain commemorations in the Périgord area has regularly prompted mixed reactions.
Lechon herself described Folgado's gesture as out of place. She said the mayor, who she noted does not belong to the RN, had shown neutrality. According to Lechon, such behaviour was inappropriate at a ceremony honouring men and women who fought so that people could be French and who did not concern themselves with each other's political affiliations.
