PARIS (Reuters) – Emmanuel Macron was moved on Friday by the “atrocity” of the murder of Lola, a 12-year-old schoolgirl killed on October 14 in Paris, saying after a week of political controversy on the subject that his family had ” above all need the respect and affection of the Nation”.
“What touches us all? It is the atrocity of this crime and it is also what is both unspeakable and absolute about it”, declared the Head of State. during a press conference following the Brussels European Council.
“When you are faced with radical evil and you experience that it is possible in our society, and that is there, that is what is dizzying”, he continued in response to a reporter’s question.
“I think that all parents experience in their flesh what Lola’s parents experience. Fear for a child who is dropped off at school, fear for a child who comes home from class,” said underlined the president.
“I think she [la famille de Lola] first and foremost needs the respect and affection of the Nation,” he added.
This is the first time that the Head of State, who received the victim’s family at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday, has spoken publicly about this tragedy which has led the far right and part of the right to accuse the government of “migratory laxity”, the alleged murderer, of Algerian origin, being subject to an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF).
The day after a demonstration in Paris organized by an association close to Reconquête!, the far-right party of Eric Zemmour, who was present, the girl’s family asked in a press release that “immediately cease, and be withdrawn, any use of their child’s name and likeness for political purposes”.
The National Rally had also organized a silent rally on Thursday in front of the National Assembly.
The teenager’s funeral is scheduled for Monday afternoon in Lilles, in Pas-de-Calais.
(Written by Sophie Louet, edited by Tangi Salaün)