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| French Mayor Who Once Defended Journalists Now Denounces Immigrants | French Mayor Who Once Defended Journalists Now Denounces Immigrants |
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| BÉZIERS, France — In a past life he was France’s leading advocate for journalists, fighting to spring them from dictators worldwide, a fearless defender of freedom of the press on four continents and a hero to free-speech advocates. | |
| That was then. Now, Robert Ménard, the man who founded Reporters Sans Frontières — Reporters Without Borders — has become a symbol of right-wing extremism in France. | |
| No longer a journalists’ advocate but the mayor of the largest city under far-right control in France, he says there are too many immigrants in his town, too many veils, too many Muslim children and too much culture that is not French. | No longer a journalists’ advocate but the mayor of the largest city under far-right control in France, he says there are too many immigrants in his town, too many veils, too many Muslim children and too much culture that is not French. |
| Mr. Ménard has ordered the laundry off the window ledges, the satellite dishes off the roofs and Syrian refugees out of public housing. He has counted the Muslim children in schools here — a strict no-no in secular France — and increased police patrols on horseback in this whitewashed old Mediterranean city of 70,000 people, high unemployment, high poverty, narrow stone streets and medieval churches. | |
| “People feel like they are being replaced,” Mr. Ménard said an interview inside the 18th-century City Hall. “Immigration has become massive.” | |
| For the far right in France, his tenure as mayor of Béziers has become a laboratory of sorts, watched with fascination by the country’s media, chagrin by liberal-minded opponents and glee by the National Front party of Marine Le Pen. | For the far right in France, his tenure as mayor of Béziers has become a laboratory of sorts, watched with fascination by the country’s media, chagrin by liberal-minded opponents and glee by the National Front party of Marine Le Pen. |
| Mr. Ménard is not a member of the far-right National Front — he fashions himself as an independent and says he is more pro-capitalist than the National Front — but his town has nonetheless become a showcase for the party’s agenda, whose members regularly visit and express support, including Ms. Le Pen. | Mr. Ménard is not a member of the far-right National Front — he fashions himself as an independent and says he is more pro-capitalist than the National Front — but his town has nonetheless become a showcase for the party’s agenda, whose members regularly visit and express support, including Ms. Le Pen. |
| Ms. Le Pen has tried to burnish her party’s image, going as far as to support the expulsion of her own father for remarks about Jews and the Holocaust. While she has toned down some of her own language on immigration — though barely — the unbridled bombast of politicians like Mr. Ménard has neatly served to keep the issue alive in the French political conversation. | |
| Politically, it is working, and Ms. Le Pen has risen strongly in polls to become a presidential contender, while her party is poised to make gains in district elections across France in December. | Politically, it is working, and Ms. Le Pen has risen strongly in polls to become a presidential contender, while her party is poised to make gains in district elections across France in December. |
| “We are the avant-garde of change in France,” Mr. Ménard, 62, declared in the interview. | “We are the avant-garde of change in France,” Mr. Ménard, 62, declared in the interview. |
| Supporters and detractors alike are coming to agree. “If he keeps it up, he could become the symbol of a more general change, that the National Front has changed,” said Emmanuel Négrier, a political scientist at the University of Montpellier, noting that National Front mayors in other cities had so far ended in failure. | Supporters and detractors alike are coming to agree. “If he keeps it up, he could become the symbol of a more general change, that the National Front has changed,” said Emmanuel Négrier, a political scientist at the University of Montpellier, noting that National Front mayors in other cities had so far ended in failure. |
| Mr. Ménard, on the other hand, appears to have a solid grip on this town. “Béziers could really become a political symbol,” Mr. Négrier said. | Mr. Ménard, on the other hand, appears to have a solid grip on this town. “Béziers could really become a political symbol,” Mr. Négrier said. |
| Inside the narrow old doorways of the central city he has proved himself, since his March 2014 election, to be either a hero — to the people with French-sounding last names — or a racist villain, to those of North African descent. | Inside the narrow old doorways of the central city he has proved himself, since his March 2014 election, to be either a hero — to the people with French-sounding last names — or a racist villain, to those of North African descent. |
| Meanwhile, old colleagues at Reporters Sans Frontières are scratching their heads, stupefied at his apparent transformation. A number of them have denounced him. | Meanwhile, old colleagues at Reporters Sans Frontières are scratching their heads, stupefied at his apparent transformation. A number of them have denounced him. |
| But to Mr. Ménard, it is all straightforward. He wants most if not all of the immigrants to go somewhere else. | But to Mr. Ménard, it is all straightforward. He wants most if not all of the immigrants to go somewhere else. |
| “I don’t want this city to be majority-Muslim, at all,” he said. “There is a majority of the Muslim population that is incapable of living within the norms of this country.” | “I don’t want this city to be majority-Muslim, at all,” he said. “There is a majority of the Muslim population that is incapable of living within the norms of this country.” |
| “I love this country,” he said, ticking off France’s prowess in literature, art and architecture, even its “way of looking at women. I am as attached to them as to my own eyes,” he said. | “I love this country,” he said, ticking off France’s prowess in literature, art and architecture, even its “way of looking at women. I am as attached to them as to my own eyes,” he said. |
| “The identity of this city is not a Muslim identity,” Mr. Ménard continued. “This is a problem of numbers. When you’ve got two-thirds of the kids in a school with Muslim names — that’s a disaster. Impossible. There’s no way you could want this.” | “The identity of this city is not a Muslim identity,” Mr. Ménard continued. “This is a problem of numbers. When you’ve got two-thirds of the kids in a school with Muslim names — that’s a disaster. Impossible. There’s no way you could want this.” |
| In September, he strode into public housing here, wearing his tricolor official sash — the French national colors — and accompanied by a retinue of aides, to accost a Syrian refugee wearing a Berkeley T-shirt. | In September, he strode into public housing here, wearing his tricolor official sash — the French national colors — and accompanied by a retinue of aides, to accost a Syrian refugee wearing a Berkeley T-shirt. |
| In his carefully enunciated diction, Mr. Ménard told the bemused-looking refugee, “Sir, you are not welcome in this city.” | In his carefully enunciated diction, Mr. Ménard told the bemused-looking refugee, “Sir, you are not welcome in this city.” |
| The episode was filmed and posted on YouTube by the City of Béziers. On the cover of Béziers’ glossy city magazine, a photomontage shows a mass of ragged immigrants next to a train marked “Béziers 3865 km” over the headline “They Are Coming!” Another issue has a photo of blond schoolchildren under the headline “Our Dear Little Blond Heads.” | |
| Mr. Ménard founded Reporters Sans Frontières in 1985 with friends, and until he left it in 2008, was an uncompromising defender of free speech, becoming ever more so as the years went on, and even speaking up against the law silencing French Holocaust deniers like Robert Faurisson. | Mr. Ménard founded Reporters Sans Frontières in 1985 with friends, and until he left it in 2008, was an uncompromising defender of free speech, becoming ever more so as the years went on, and even speaking up against the law silencing French Holocaust deniers like Robert Faurisson. |
| Mr. Ménard was born in French Algeria and was forced to leave with his family, along with millions of other Frenchmen, when the country gained independence in 1962 — a background critics say explains his hostility toward Muslim immigrants. | Mr. Ménard was born in French Algeria and was forced to leave with his family, along with millions of other Frenchmen, when the country gained independence in 1962 — a background critics say explains his hostility toward Muslim immigrants. |
| “Your candidacy in the Béziers municipal elections, supported by the National Front, has erased any lingering doubt on the shipwreck of a man for whom we once had respect,” his old colleagues at Reporters Sans Frontières wrote in an open letter in 2013. | “Your candidacy in the Béziers municipal elections, supported by the National Front, has erased any lingering doubt on the shipwreck of a man for whom we once had respect,” his old colleagues at Reporters Sans Frontières wrote in an open letter in 2013. |
| Mr. Ménard scoffed at the censure of his old colleagues — “If this organization exists at all, it owes me a lot,” he said — and returned to the subject that preoccupies him: immigrants. “People here have the feeling that the town no longer belongs to them,” he said in the interview. | Mr. Ménard scoffed at the censure of his old colleagues — “If this organization exists at all, it owes me a lot,” he said — and returned to the subject that preoccupies him: immigrants. “People here have the feeling that the town no longer belongs to them,” he said in the interview. |
| On the streets of Béziers, the apocalypse pictured by the mayor does not seem imminent. Muslim women wearing head scarves sat quietly on benches in the lush, green Parc des Poètes on a recent afternoon. Nobody bothered them, and they appeared unperturbed. | |
| Teenage Muslim boys, asked what they thought of the mayor, laughed and said they could not care less about him. Turkish takeout spots on the central promenade were doing a brisk business. | Teenage Muslim boys, asked what they thought of the mayor, laughed and said they could not care less about him. Turkish takeout spots on the central promenade were doing a brisk business. |
| “Whether or not one is French, that is not up to Ménard to decide,” said Omar Khatiri, a longtime resident who was born in France and is a critic of the mayor. “We’ve always been multicultural here in Béziers,” Mr. Khatiri said. Mr. Ménard’s anti-immigrant talk has led to “tensions in the neighborhoods,” he said. | “Whether or not one is French, that is not up to Ménard to decide,” said Omar Khatiri, a longtime resident who was born in France and is a critic of the mayor. “We’ve always been multicultural here in Béziers,” Mr. Khatiri said. Mr. Ménard’s anti-immigrant talk has led to “tensions in the neighborhoods,” he said. |
| “He’s a racist,” a Moroccan man, who would give his name only as Bader, said in the tiny cafe he operates behind a 12th-century church here. “We’ve got to get rid of him. He wants France only for the French.” | “He’s a racist,” a Moroccan man, who would give his name only as Bader, said in the tiny cafe he operates behind a 12th-century church here. “We’ve got to get rid of him. He wants France only for the French.” |
| Mr. Ménard has “made hatred and racism ordinary,” said a local civic activist, Linda Mendy Hamdani. | Mr. Ménard has “made hatred and racism ordinary,” said a local civic activist, Linda Mendy Hamdani. |
| Brice Blazy, a city councilman opposed to Mr. Ménard, in a separate interview, made much the same point, saying, “There are no taboos anymore.” | Brice Blazy, a city councilman opposed to Mr. Ménard, in a separate interview, made much the same point, saying, “There are no taboos anymore.” |
| In the stores and restaurants run by native French, though, there was praise for the cleaned-up facades of Béziers’ old city, the cleaner streets and the more aggressive policing instituted by Mr. Ménard. | In the stores and restaurants run by native French, though, there was praise for the cleaned-up facades of Béziers’ old city, the cleaner streets and the more aggressive policing instituted by Mr. Ménard. |
| “He’s close to the people. And he dares to say, ‘That’s enough with the disorder,’ ” said Amandine Bistuer, who helps run Le Victor, a handsome old cafe on the central square. | |
| “He’s accessible, and he only wants what’s good for the city,” said her colleague Fabien Ascencio. “He speaks frankly, and speaks like us.” | “He’s accessible, and he only wants what’s good for the city,” said her colleague Fabien Ascencio. “He speaks frankly, and speaks like us.” |
| Philippe Constans, who runs a leather-goods store, said, “We no longer have the impression that the city is in a vegetative state.” | Philippe Constans, who runs a leather-goods store, said, “We no longer have the impression that the city is in a vegetative state.” |
| Back at the City Hall, Mr. Ménard began a lucid exposition of the town’s economic woes — high unemployment, a failure to invest for the long term. Abruptly, unprompted, he switched to a lament about the high number of immigrants. “People here feel the town doesn’t belong to them any longer,” he said, continuing to expound in that vein. | |
| Mr. Blazy, the opposition politician, called the immigration issue “like an obsession with him.” | Mr. Blazy, the opposition politician, called the immigration issue “like an obsession with him.” |
| “The obsession with the Arab, the Muslim,” he said. “That’s all he talks about.” | “The obsession with the Arab, the Muslim,” he said. “That’s all he talks about.” |