Demonstrators' misconduct overshadows the scheme of a new jail

The Angers supporters of the mouvement "La manif pour tous", who came on October 25th to attend the visit of the justice minister, Christiane Taubira, discredited themselves and maybe the cause they defend. Gathered in front the justice hall, demonstrators, some of them going hand in hand with children, shouted their opposition to the law opening the mariage to persons of the same sex but above all insulted Mrs Taubira in totally misplaced words, which could be considered as an offense. A lot of French medias dedicated coverage to the incident. That one overshadowed the reason for which Mrs Taubira's visit was expected.

Previously, several Angers and Maine-et-Loire representatives made appeals to the government in order to launch a reflection about the necessity of a new prison. The minister, who had already choosen to renovate the current penitenciary, built at the beginning of the French second empire, finally accepted to study in the weeks to come other solutions and, among them, the erection of a new building. But the costs are not the same : while the improvement works sum up to € 500 000, the scheme of a new jail would involve millions of euros. Christiane Taubira (eventually irritated by the demonstrators) pointed out that "the question was not to please local representatives".

In a press release, the leaders of La manif pour tous 49 considered the insults pronouced by a child "were not representative of the peaceful mobilization". These statements "if they had been directly witnessed, would have led [those leaders] to react immediately stopping such words to be said". But according to witnesses, the dishonest words were far to be criticized by the demonstrators.