French MP calls black MP ‘go back to Africa’, parliament suspended

Paris:

France’s lower house of parliament adjourned its session on Thursday after a right-wing lawmaker shouted, “Go back to Africa!” As a black legislator, the far left asked a question about immigration.

This comment caused a huge uproar. The centrist government and the Left Coalition said it was unacceptable racist abuse. Far-right MP Gregoire de Fornas did not target the words at question-seeker MP Carlos Martens Bilongo, but at migrants stranded on an NGO boat.

“There is no place for racism in our democracy,” Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne told reporters after the incident. The Bureau of the National Assembly will convene (on Friday) and decide on the necessary sanctions.

Mr. de Fournas, a member of the National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen and his party, argued that he had said nothing wrong.

Ms Le Pen tweeted: “She explicitly talked about migrants being taken in boats by NGOs.” “The controversy created by our political opponents … will not deceive the French.”

Mr Bilongo saw it in a very different way, describing the remark as “shameful”. “Today, I was sent back to my skin color. I was born in France. I’m a French deputy,” he said.

Stéphane Sjorn, who leads President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party, said Mr. de Fornas should resign, and the left-wing Nups coalition said he should be expelled.

Over the years, Ms. Le Pen has made great strides in cleaning up her party’s image and reassuring voters that the party founded by her father, Jean-Marie, who has been blamed several times for racial hatred, will be a part of the conservative mainstream. has risen and is now able to rule.

With 89 MPs, the RN is the second largest party in the parliament.

A close aide of Ms Le Pen, Jordan Bardella is expected to take over as party leader on Saturday – even though Ms Le Pen will still call the shots.

“The national rally has shown its true face today,” the Nups left-wing coalition said in a statement. “This racist slur is characteristic of the far-right: stigmatize according to the color of your skin, divide the French people.”

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