In the French National Assembly, a black MP speaks about the “drama of illegal immigration”. A right-wing Rassemblement National MP says he should go back to Africa. The outrage is great. Party leader Le Pen is unreasonable.
French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed his outrage over what was considered racist by a politician from the right-wing populist Rassemblement National (RN) party to a left-wing black MP during a parliamentary session. Macron’s environment said the president was “shocked” by these “unacceptable” words both in the plenary hall and outside.
The incident occurred as black MP Carlos Martens Bilongo of the left-wing populist party La France Insoumise (LFI) spoke about the “drama of illegal immigration” during a session of the National Assembly. The RN deputy Grégoire de Fournas said “Qu’il retourne en Afrique”, roughly “Let him go back to Africa”.
The MP admitted this to the press – although de Fournas stated that by “he” he meant the lifeboat of an aid organization currently in the Mediterranean. In French, this is possible because, unlike in German, the grammatical gender of the word boat is masculine.
The incident made waves: After a few minutes of confusion, the President of the National Assembly ended the session “given the gravity of the events”. Such an interruption is extremely rare.
Carlos Martens Bilongo said RN MPs “twisted the words to justify the unjustifiable”. He was “so sad” to be reduced to his skin color. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne also expressed her shock. “Racism has no place in our democracy,” said Borne. LFI boss Jean-Luc Mélenchon demanded on Twitter de Fournas’ expulsion from parliament.
His party supported the deputies. “The polemic created by our political opponents is primitive and will not deceive the French,” said RN boss Marine Le Pen on Twitter. De Fournas himself wrote to the MP concerned that his statement had been misunderstood and that he regretted “if you felt hurt by it”.
