2026 Municipal Elections: Behind Urban Violence, Security Issues Electrify Debates

No sooner had the urban violence that struck several cities across the country in mid-July subsided than the campaign for the March 2026 municipal elections erupted. The week of July 14 was marked by outbreaks of violence in Limoges, Compiègne (Oise), Charleville-Mézières, Nîmes, and Béziers (Hérault). In many cases, these events are linked to drug trafficking, according to the Ministry of the Interior.

Commenting on the very violent clashes that took place on the night of July 18-19 in Limoges between police and hooded individuals armed with iron bars, the mayor (various right), Emile Roger Lombertie, declared: "When we consider people as animals and we let them run free like animals, they behave like animals, that is to say, they lose all or part of their humanity to settle for the dark side." The La France Insoumise (LFI) MP for Haute-Vienne, Damien Maudet, referred the matter to the public prosecutor on Thursday, July 24, for the mayor's "racist remarks."

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