The President of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet ended the session of questions to the government on Thursday, after a racist arrest in the hemicycle which provoked the indignation of the deputies. During an intervention by LFI deputy Carlos Martens Bilongo on the “drama of illegal immigration”, RN deputy Grégoire de Fournas launched in the hemicycle “that they return to Africa” or “that he return to Africa “. After a few minutes of confusion, the President of the Assembly ended the session “given the seriousness of the facts” and “the legitimate emotion” in the hemicycle.
Following a meeting incident, the meeting of the #QAG is suspended.
Next session: tomorrow, November 4, at 3:30 p.m.#DirectANhttps://t.co/Ff7YeQxzWA– National Assembly (@AssembleeNat) November 3, 2022
“This sentence has been hijacked”
For its part, the RN group denies that its deputy targeted the elected LFI. On BFMTV, the deputy Grégoire de Fournas defends himself by explaining that “this sentence was hijacked by France Insoumise which seeks all the pretexts to interrupt the session. They understood, what I had trouble myself to realize that I was talking about the deputy, which is obviously completely false”. The deputy of the Gironde explains having launched “that they return to Africa” by speaking of the boats carrying migrants. “There is absolutely nothing problematic, it is in our program to stop the migratory floodgates and to stop the role of boats on the Mediterranean.”
Following this intervention, the Renaissance group indicated that it “will no longer sit” as long as the RN deputy accused of having launched racist remarks in the hemicycle against his colleague LFI will not be heavily sanctioned. “We will no longer sit until a heavy sanction (has) not been pronounced (…). The veneer is cracking. That’s the National Rally”, noted the vice-president of the group Sylvain Maillard in front of the press. “Marine Le Pen must demand his resignation without delay,” tweeted Stéphane Séjourné, number one of the presidential party.
The subject will be on the menu of the next office of the Assembly, its highest collegiate body, brought forward to Friday. According to parliamentary sources, the Member concerned is liable to “simple censure”, i.e. deprivation of half of the parliamentary allowance for one month or “censorship with temporary exclusion”, i.e. deprivation for two months of half of the indemnity allocated to the deputy with prohibition to take part in the work of the Assembly and to reappear at the Palais Bourbon for fifteen days.
A torrent of political reactions
On Twitter, many political figures reacted quickly to the incident. “Racism has no place in our democracy”, warned Thursday the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, indicating that “naturally”, the office of the National Assembly “will have to take sanctions”.
Shame. Here is the #RN party of civil war and racism. Such comments to the French National Assembly are beyond intolerable. The forfeiture and the exclusion of the insulter must be decided! #DirectANpic.twitter.com/hqaSVWoEvG
— Jean-Luc Melenchon (@JLMelenchon) November 3, 2022
Jean-Luc Mélenchon condemned these remarks by speaking of “shame”. “Here is the RN party of civil war and racism. Such remarks to the French National Assembly are beyond intolerable.” MP Mathilde Panot estimated “that today the far right has shown its true face”, before telling the press “we are going to ask for the strongest sanction, the expulsion for several months” from this deputy.” Danielle Obono, also elected LFI, also expressed herself on Twitter and speaks of “racist hatred, unbridled filth that is expressed in the heart of the Republic”.
Grégoire de Fournas obviously spoke of the migrants transported in boats by the NGOs mentioned by our colleague in his question to the government. The controversy created by our political opponents is crude and will not deceive the French.
– Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) November 3, 2022
On the other side of the Assembly, the RN deputies speak of a misappropriation of the words of their colleague. “It’s rather a not very classy manipulation of LFI”, said Sébastien Chenu, vice-president RN of the Assembly. Jordan Bardella came to the defense of the deputy from Gironde. “The alliance of extreme dishonesty between insubordinate France and the government is pitiful and will not deceive anyone,” he tweeted.
Marine Le Pen denounces “a crude controversy” of “adversaries” of the RN. Nevertheless, in a tweet, she specifies that Grégoire de Fournas “obviously spoke of the migrants transported by boat” and not of the boats themselves as the RN deputy insists.