The Times - UK (2021-12-06)

the times | Monday December 6 2021 2GM 31

Teenage gunman told

school his death drawings

were for a video game

Page 33

Finland’s PM says Europe

must wean itself off

foreign technology

Page 32

controversies, notably an exchange of

“up yours” gestures with an opponent

in Marseilles and a clash with a tele-

vision news presenter, whom he called

a connard (arsehole) for asking what he

considered to be the wrong questions.

The rally was designed to breathe

fresh life into his campaign while steal-

ing the thunder of Valérie Pécresse, 54,

who won a primary election to become

the opposition Republicans presiden-

tial candidate on Saturday. In his

speech Zemmour dismissed her as

member of the elite that had failed

France before going on to unveil the

name of his new political party, Recon-

quête (Reconquest). This was taken as a

reference to the Spanish reconqista,

when the country’s Christian monarchs

pushed back Muslim invaders between

the 8th and 15th centuries.

Zemmour said that his election

would ensure the “reconquest” of

France, which he claimed was “the

most beautiful country in the world”.

He added: “We want to save our coun-

try, our civilisation, our culture, our lit-

erature, our legacy, our youth.”

Referring to the “great replacement”,

a far-right theory that Muslims of im-

migrant origin would soon come to be

in the majority in France, he said: “We

are engaged in a fight that is bigger than

us, that of transmitting to our children

the France that was left to us.”

Trump-like claims that the media was

collaborating in an establishment plot.

The rally came at a pivotal moment

for Zemmour, a newspaper polemicist

and television pundit who claims that

the country’s white population and

Judeo-Christian heritage risks being

pushed aside by Muslim immigrants.

He has enjoyed a startling rise in the

opinion polls to put him within touch-

ing distance of Macron and Marine Le

Pen, the leader of the far-right National

Rally, as the favourites for next year’s

election. He has accused Le Pen of

going soft on immigration in her pur-

suit of mainstream voters.

Zemmour’s ratings, however, have

fallen in recent days amid a series of

French scientists have invented what

they call a pseudo-vaccination to pro-

tect oysters against a herpes virus but

fear an attack from antivaxers.

Ostreid herpesvirus type 1 (OsHV-1)

arrived in France in 2008 from the US

and has become a concern for the

country’s 2,654 producers. The virus

mainly attacks crassostrea gigas, or

Pacific oysters, which are often eaten at

Christmas, and can wipe out entire

beds. In 2015 it cut production from

130,000 tonnes to 80,000 tonnes.

Producers tend to compensate by

growing more oysters than they will be

able to sell on the grounds that many

are likely to die from the virus.

Now scientists at the French

Oyster farmers vexed over antivaxers

ters given the “pseudo vaccination” sur-

vived. Researchers concede, however,

that while it is possible to stick a needle

into an oyster in a laboratory, the

method will be impractical in farms.

They say that it could take them years

to work out how to administer the doses

in oyster beds.

Observers say they will also have to

overcome the distrust of producers and

consumers in a country awash with

conspiracy theories, notably about

vaccinations.

Ifremer is seeking to head off anti-

vaxers by explaining that OsHV-1 pos-

es no danger to humans. “We use a virus

... already present in the [sea] and
which has no impact on the health of
consumers,” Morga and Montagnani
said.

Research Institute for Sea Exploitation

(Ifremer) think they have the solution.

It involves injecting a deactivated ver-

sion of the virus into the oysters as part

of a project called Star, or Stimulation

Antivirale.

Benjamin Morga and Caroline Mon-

tagnani, Ifremer researchers, said on

the institute’s website: “You cannot talk

about a vaccination in the conventional

sense for the oyster because this

animal, as opposed to humans, does not

produce antibodies. Nevertheless, our

discovery enables [us] to stimulate its

immunological memory. The principle

is to mime an infection with the same

virus previously deactivated to enable

the oyster to develop the weapons that

will enable it to fight against the virus.”

They said that 100 per cent of the oys-

Adam Sage

Eric Zemmour, the far-right pundit

standing for the French presidency,

depicted himself as the country’s sav-

iour during a rally marked by clashes

between his supporters and anti-racist

activists yesterday.

As he delivered an hour-long speech

to thousands of flag-waving fans who

chanted “Vive la France” and lapped up

his promise to end immigration and

stem the influence of Islam, a fist fight

broke out in the audience after SOS

Racisme, an activist association, infil-

trated the rally.

Zemmour’s supporters exchanged

blows with the activists as chairs flew

and security guards struggled to restore

order. At least five people were injured,

including a woman who later appeared

before journalists with blood streaming

down her face.

The violence erupted amid a feverish

atmosphere at the first rally organised

by Zemmour, 63, since the official

announcement that he was running for

the presidency last week.

More than 10,000 people had

crammed into a giant exhibition hall in

Villepinte, north of Paris, in a sign of the

enthusiasm that Zemmour’s entrance

into politics has created on the right.

The rolling news channel BFM said no

other candidate, not even President

Macron, could hope to attract so many

to a rally but an increasingly virulent

debate over Zemmour’s pledge to fight

the “Islamification of France” meant

that tensions were high at the event.

The police said that they had arrested

at least 48 demonstrators trying to

approach the hall to sabotage the rally.

Some were carrying Molotov cocktails

and bottles of acid, French media

reported. A few made it into the hall,

where according to his representatives

Zemmour’s wrist was injured when he

was grabbed around the neck as he ap-

proached the stage before being pulled

aside by the security team.

A few minutes earlier a television

crew from TF1, the French equivalent

of ITV, was removed by Zemmour’s

guards under a volley of insults and

threats from his supporters. Their

anger was perhaps whipped up by his

Zemmour’s presidential

rally ends in mass brawl

France

Adam Sage Paris

Violence flared at Eric Zemmour’s first rally since announcing his presidential bid

XINHUA/SHUTTERSTOCK

S

urvivors of a

volcano that killed

at least 14 people

in Indonesia described

fleeing from a boiling

cloud of ash yesterday

(Didi Tang writes).

About 1,300 people

were evacuated and at

least 57, including two

pregnant women, had

breathing problems

and burns after

Semeru, the highest

mountain on Java

island, erupted on

Saturday. Smoke rose

tens of thousands of

feet over a village,

where people ran to

escape the lava and

hamlets were buried.

Smouldering debris

and thick sludge

hampered rescuers’

efforts and a weather

official said rain was

due for the next three

days, which would

complicate the rescue.

“There’s no life

there... Trees, farms,

houses are scorched,

everything is covered

in heavy grey ash,”

Haryadi Purnomo, of

East Java’s search and

rescue agency, said.

Hosniya, 31, a local,

said the eruption was

sudden: “I thought a

bomb was exploding.”

People flee for their

lives in Lumajang, east

Java while vehicles

were left buried in ash