“I’m ashamed, it’s not a mistake it’s a fault”: Robert Ménard apologizes for his remarks on migrants – Midi Libre

The mayor of Béziers, now in favor of welcoming Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion, apologized on Wednesday March 9 for his past positions on migrants. “The bombs are no different when they fall on my friends in Kiev than when they fall on my friends in Aleppo.” “I will plead guilty.” The mayor of Béziers Robert Ménard was the guest of David Pujadas this Wednesday, March 9 on LCI. Asked about the war in Ukraine and the reception of refugees, the elected Biterrois made an unexpected Mea Culpa and apologized for comments made about refugees fleeing the fighting in Iraq and Syria. A Mea Culpa driven by the war in Ukraine “I said, wrote, published in Béziers a number of things at the time of the fighting in Syria, Iraq and the arrival of refugees in our country that I regret. That I ashamed to have said and done because it was not good”, indicated Ronbert Ménard in 24 h Pujadas. “Morally it was not good. There are not two kinds of victims, there are not Christian Europeans who should be defended and people who would be in the Middle East and Muslims who we would have had reason for not accepting from us”. This double standard is not glorious for me, nor for us. It’s not a mistake, it’s a fault In 2016, Robert Ménard was heavily criticized for two publications. On the first, you could see men from behind in front of the Saint-Nazaire cathedral in Béziers. The photo was accompanied by the phrase: “They are coming… The migrants”. A few months earlier, the mayor of Béziers had decided to display on the front page of the municipal bulletin a photo of trains crowded with refugees with the inscription “Béziers 3,865 km. They are coming”. “There is a double standard. Today I welcome all the refugees who ask for it, but three years ago, four years ago, no, it wasn’t good. The bombs are no different when they fall on my friends in Kiev than when they fall on my friends in Aleppo. This double standard is not glorious for me, nor for us. It’s not a mistake, it’s a fault”, concluded Robert Ménard.