New Mayors Take Office Across France After Protests and a Fresnes Town Hall Attack

Overview

• Municipal councils met between Friday and Sunday to install mayors after the March 22 second round, a legal step that includes a secret ballot for the mayor and the election of deputies.
• Éric Ciotti was elected in Nice on Friday and pledged to double the municipal police and scrap a planned property tax hike, while Jean‑Luc Moudenc kept Toulouse and Johanna Rolland was reconfirmed in Nantes with votes from Insoumis councillors.
• Several large cities completed investitures on Saturday, including Marseille, Strasbourg, Le Havre, Montpellier and Vaulx‑en‑Velin, with new teams outlining early priorities and reshuffles.
• Fresnes in Val‑de‑Marne saw its town hall vandalized Friday night, with masked attackers firing mortar fireworks, smashing the entrance, and wrecking offices, which forced the installation to shift rooms and left nearby shops with broken windows.
• The Interior Minister condemned the Fresnes attack as an assault on the Republic and said investigators are working to identify the culprits, while the Élysée had already warned this week that the rule of law applies everywhere after tense handovers in several towns.