Brittany: “Stigmatizing and unacceptable”… A mayor is singled out for his comments about Travelers

He brought together his municipal councilors on Monday to debate the merits of arming or not arming the municipal police in his commune. But during the meeting, Stéphane Labbé, mayor of Vern-sur-Seiche (Ille-et-Vilaine), south of Rennes, slipped. According to Ouest-France, the elected official, questioned by the opposition on alternatives to lethal weapons, declared that “the taser is ineffective when someone has a build like travelers. »

A sentence which caused two local associations to react, denouncing “stigmatizing and unacceptable comments.” » The Human Rights League and the Rovy association underline in a press release that “Travelers do not form a homogeneous group. » “Reducing them to “corpulence” and linking them in fact to criminality is to repeat and reinforce the prejudices which have fueled the discrimination of which they are victims for too long. »

Comments “completely taken out of context”

Before continuing: “Nothing can justify either the amalgamation or the stigmatization of the traveler community. » Questioning “the racism” of these comments, the two associations finally ask the mayor “to publicly clarify his comments and to remind people that Travelers cannot be reduced to stereotypes. »