“Go back to Africa”: Controversy in France over the racist cry of a far-right deputy

An extreme right-wing deputy sowed this Thursday the confusion in the National Assembly of Franceaccused of making racist statements about a black leftist legislator, in a context of tension over the government’s immigration policy.

During the government control session in the lower house, the far right Gregoire of fournas I would have screamed “let them return to Africa” or “let them return to Africa” to the deputy Carlos Martens Bilongo when he asked about the arrival of immigrants.

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French phonetics makes it difficult to know if Of fournas he was referring to migrants or the deputy of congolese origin. Her words caused the president of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, suspend the session.

The group National Group (RN, far right) assures that his deputy was referring to the “ship” of migrants mentioned in the question and “in no case” to Martens Bilongoa thesis defended instead by La Francia Insumisa (LFI, radical left).

“We are facing a manipulation of LFI that seeks to distort my statements to make me say unpleasant things about a fellow French deputy, who has the same legitimacy as me in these benches.”, assured Of fournas.

Carlos Martens Bilongo expressed for his part his “sadness”. “It is shameful that I have been reduced to my skin color today,” added the leftist deputy, defending the thesis that the phrase was aimed at him.

The French President, Emmanuel Macronstated “shocked” by the “intolerable” statements of the far-right legislator and “expressed his support for the insulted parliamentarian,” indicated the environment of the centrist president.

“Racism has no place in our democracy”Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said for her part.

The highest collegiate body of the lower house will meet on Friday afternoon to discuss the case. LFI announced that it will request the highest sanction against the far-right parliamentarian: “expulsion of him for several months.”

The incident came after the government announced a series of measures against irregular immigration.

The right and the extreme right accuse Macron of not doing enough to expel immigrants who have been denied a residence permit.

The government defended in particular proposes to create a residence permit to attract foreign workers to jobs with labor shortages and to include people in an irregular situation with a deportation order in the police list of wanted persons.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.