the directors and Stéphane Ravier take legal action

The senator of Bouches-du-Rhône and support of the RN for the municipal elections Stéphane Ravier, as well as the directors of the film Sacred Heart, his reign has no end, announced on Friday that they were going to the Marseille administrative court after the film was canceled in the Marseille city.

This Wednesday, an hour before the screening of this film, the Marseille town hall decided to cancel the session planned at the Château de la Buzine, the castle acquired by Marcel Pagnol and now managed under municipal management by the city of Marseille. In a press release, the community justifies this decision in the name of the 1905 law on the separation of Church and State, and “the absolute application of the law and consistent case law on the subject which is binding on all places managed by public authorities in France.” “This deprogramming has nothing to do with an appreciation of the film or a desire to restrict freedom of expression or creation”still writes the city of Marseille.

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“We do not understand this argument from the city of Marseille which invokes the principle of secularism”explains the lawyer for the Marseille senator and the directors, Me Grégoire Belmont. According to this same source, a summary liberty order was filed in the morning for infringement of freedom of expression, infringement of freedom of artistic creation and infringement of freedom of assembly. When contacted, Marseille town hall confirmed having been notified of this request this Friday. “The hearing will be held this Saturday at 11 a.m.”specifies Me Belmont.

Lively controversy

Known to the general public for having been a former member of the boy band Alliage, the director of this film was moved by this deprogramming on social networks, accusing the city of «boycott» of his work co-created with his wife. “Our Marseille, Provençal and French identity will not fade away in the face of the attacks of a few secular extremists, always brandished against one and the same faith: Christianity”proclaims Senator Stéphane Ravier in a press release.

The controversy surrounding the deprogramming of this film strongly shook Canebière, provoking numerous local and national political reactions, starting with those of the candidate nominated by LR for the municipal elections of Marseille, Martine Vassal who saw “a one-way secularism.” In an interview with JDD published this Friday, the woman who is also president of the Bouches-du-Rhône department and the Aix-Marseille Provence metropolis announces that she is in contact with the production of the film to organize screenings “across the entire metropolitan area via (the) management tools.”

For his part, the RN candidate and close to Marine Le Pen, Franck Allisio, asked the prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône to reschedule “as soon as possible” the film, fearing by this gesture “an erasure of the Christian roots that make up Marseille, Provence and France.” A request also made by Stéphane Ravier, who accuses the mayor of Marseille of having “censored an artistic work about the Christian faith.”