Beyond the somewhat flamboyant postures, Philippe Vardon is a political figure with a keen sense.
He demonstrated it once again yesterday afternoon by promptly exploiting a mundane episode involving a letter from a property manager requesting a couple to remove the tricolor flag they had displayed in their garden, at the neighbors’ request.
A mundane episode because it was not at all an act against the symbol of the Nation but simply the result of a neighborly dispute where, as always in such cases, all possible strategies are employed.
The manager (whose name was published in the local press… thanks to journalistic ethics!) who was the unwitting trigger of this situation got her share: more than 300 calls and emails laden with insults and threats. To protect herself, she had to get away and leave Nice, at least temporarily.
But, this “false” case mainly allowed Philippe Vardon to organize a small demonstration and thus present himself as the champion of the outraged “patriots.”
A handful of activists, national flags in hand, listened to his words: “In the face of some people’s hatred, and the shame and submission of others, let us affirm calmly but strongly: we are proud of our colors, we are proud to be French!”
