Perpignan plans to display a giant nativity scene on the public highway after it was banned from installing it in the town hall

The town hall of Perpignan, led by the vice-president of the National Rally (RN) Louis Aliot, plans to display on the public highway giant statues of the child Jesus accompanied by his parents Mary and Joseph, after being prohibited from installing a crèche in the town hall. “There are still questions about securing the exhibition of this work but certainly it will be exhibited from the end of year holidays in 2026,” Farid Belacel, the mayor's chief of staff, told AFP on Tuesday, confirming information from the local press.

For a budget of around 120,000 euros, the municipality acquired three subjects - "the three main ones obviously", specifies Farid Belacel - created by the Spanish artist Pachi, whose real name is José Manuel García Esquiva, author of a giant nativity scene whose characters are more than ten meters tall, the "Belen gigante", in Alicante (Spain). “It is part of a policy which has two objectives: the first is to satisfy the Catalan tradition of the exhibition of a pessebre (crib in Catalan language) during the end-of-year celebrations, there is a strong cultural aspect on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is an important element of the city's tourist attractiveness policy,” explained Farid Belacel.

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Legal battle

In February 2025, the Montpellier administrative court prohibited the installation of a crèche in the patio of the town hall because this could not “be considered as consistent with the requirements resulting from the principle of neutrality of public persons”. In its decision, the court noted, however, that "in other public locations, given the festive nature of the installations linked to the end-of-year celebrations, particularly on public roads, the installation on this occasion and during this period of a Christmas nativity scene by a public person is possible, as long as it does not constitute an act of proselytism or the assertion of a religious opinion."

“We are within an accepted legal framework,” believes Louis Aliot’s chief of staff. A point of view that Agnès Langevine, vice-president of the Occitanie region and opposition municipal councilor (Place publique) does not share, who sees in this “buzz spending”, “an affirmed ideological act, contrary to secular universalism”. “In a very gloomy context for the purchasing power of the people of Perpignan, Louis Aliot is once again paying for a giant crèche (120,000 euros!) as an identity decoration claimed by the extreme right,” deplores the elected official from the left.