Villeneuve-Saint-Georges bans the distribution of leaflets during the day until 2027

The LR mayor of Villeneuve-Saint-Georges (Val-de-Marne) Kristell Niasme issued an order on Monday prohibiting the distribution of leaflets during the day in several sectors of the city, a decision contested by the local opposition in the run-up to the presidential election. This decree prohibits until September 2027 the distribution of leaflets between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. in different sectors of Villeneuve-Saint-Georges (city center, surroundings of the RER station, town hall, etc.), without prior authorization from the municipality.

According to the text, the town hall of this town of 36,000 inhabitants estimated that towing could “result in crowds, obstructions to the movement of pedestrians, risks for the safety of users of the public highway and in particular an accumulation of waste thrown on the public highway.”

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She thus deemed it “necessary” to “prevent these disturbances, to temporarily regulate the distribution of leaflets and prospectuses within a strictly delimited perimeter”. “We voluntarily took this outrageous decree to draw attention to an intolerable situation,” Kristell Niasme told AFP, in reference to the blockade movement underway in Ile-de-France high schools.

The opposition denounces a “brutal decision”

“We have arrived at a serious moment where blockades and demonstrations in front of schools are taking an unprecedented turn and endangering our children,” she said. But as the presidential election approaches, in a city where the leader of La France insoumise (LFI) Jean-Luc Mélenchon came well ahead in the first round in 2022 with 46% of the votes ahead of Emmanuel Macron (21%) and Marine Le Pen (16%), the pill is not going down well with the local opposition.

The PCF of Val-de-Marne seized the administrative court of Melun on Wednesday for summary proceedings to urgently contest this decree, criticizing in a press release a “brutal decision”. At the head of town hall since the summer of 2025, Kristell Niasme was recently appointed spokesperson for the president of the Republicans and 2027 presidential candidate, Bruno Retailleau. “As the electoral deadlines approach, it is particularly dangerous to allow a restriction of the right of activist expression to be endorsed,” the press release continues.