The Pulvar and Montebourg Show

One enormous web page at François Desouche is devoted to the attack on Socialist deputy Arnaud Montebourg and his companion, France 2 journalist Audrey Pulvar. The news of the attack has monopolized the headlines of most news sources, as well as the blogs. But the central issue is not the attack itself but its effect on the political race, in particular Marine Le Pen and the Front National, for as usual, she is being held responsible for the violence. Her immediate attempts to absolve the Front National have resulted in a media lynching and a flood of comments at left-wing sites, some mocking, some vituperative, directed at Marine and her party.

Condensed from Le Nouvel Observateur (a left-wing paper):

Journalist Audrey Pulvar and her companion, Socialist deputy Arnaud Montebourg were attacked on Tuesday February 28 late in the evening in Paris by individuals chanting pro-Front National slogans and antisemitic insults. Pulvar published her account on Twitter which Montebourg later confirmed to AFP.

"On our way home, we were attacked by about 15 individuals. They shouted 'France for the French' and 'Le Pen President', reported the journalist on Twitter.

Note: On February 20, during the round-table discussion between Marine Le Pen, Audrey Pulvar and Laurent Ruquier, Pulvar had been critical of Marine Le Pen's policy of national preference. Marine reminded Pulvar that her father had advocated "Martinique for the Martiniquans", and therefore she (Marine) was justified in saying "France for the French".

"We were hit with glass that shattered on our backs," she wrote. "We were leaving a restaurant, they were in front of the bar," she said, adding that these individuals also chanted "juden, juden, juden…" (German for "Jew") and "Jean-Marie gave us a night pass to hunt yids in Paris."

"Madame Le Pen, do you approve of this?", Audrey Pulvar wrote, addressing the presidential candidate for the Front National. "We have reported it, of course. How could we let such insults go?" She indicated that the incident had lasted "a few minutes."

"I was not injured, but I find this terrifying that people start yelling in the street that they are hunting yids, it makes chills run up and down my spine, more so since they were young," she explained this morning. "I confirm this", Arnaud Montebourg indicated earlier. "We are at the police to file a complaint."

On Twitter the story quickly aroused reactions. "Inadmissible, this proves that we must fight the Front National relentlessly. It tries to wear a masque, but tonight it showed its true face," posted the Socialist deputy Jean-Marc Ayrault, speaker for the Socialist Party in the National Assembly. "Complete solidarity with A. Montebourg and A. Pulvar attacked by cowards. The true hideous face of the extreme Right," added the nº 2 man in the Socialist Party, Harlem Désir, former head of SOS Racism.

From François Desouche more reactions:

Radio Europe 1 cast doubts over Pulvar's statements:

The restaurant worker however did not see that glasses were thrown at the couple, as Audrey Pulvar declared on Twitter. "There were glasses thrown, but not at them. They (the criminals) threw glasses, those guys were drunk, they had been there all afternoon. I did not see them throw glasses at them, but I did see broken glasses," he declared.

SOS Racism:

SOS Racism has been warning for months about the dangers of the strategy of respectability undertaken by the Front National which remains the party of hatred, bearing a moral and political responsibility in the harmful climate of our country, stealthily ruining the foundations of the republican pact and the conditions for living together.

Jewish Defense League:

Montebourg is not a friend of the French Jewish community or of Israel. He is an extremist who met other fanatics last night. It goes without saying that the JDL condemns the racist aggressors who claim to be sent by "Le Pen", but we are still not going to throw our support to an enemy of Israel.

Marine Le Pen:

In this affair the only victim is me.

According to François Desouche, the culprits may have been fans of the PSG soccer team.

However, to me it is blatantly a set-up. They may never prove this, but it is typical of the tricks and traps set for FN candidates during election years. The accusations poured forth from the Left before the investigation had even gotten underway.