The three groups of the presidential majority in the National Assembly on Tuesday called on the president of the institution to sanction the left-wing deputies who participated in the banned rally in memory of Adama Traoré. About 2,000 people, including a dozen LFI and EELV deputies, marched on Saturday in Paris in memory of Adama Traoré, who died seven years ago shortly after his arrest by the gendarmes. The rally had been banned by the police headquarters, which cited fears of public disorder after recent urban violence.
“Article 70 paragraph 2 of our rules, however, provides that any member of the Assembly who engages in demonstrations disturbing the order may be subject to disciplinary penalties”, wrote the three presidents of the groups of the presidential camp on Tuesday – Aurore Bergé (Renaissance), Jean-Paul Mattei (MoDem) and Laurent Marcangeli (Horizons) – in a letter addressed to the Renaissance president of the Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet.
“More serious, these deputies wore their tricolor scarf on this occasion and maintained their presence at a demonstration with the slogan of ‘everyone hates the police'”, continue the three group leaders, quoting deputies by name, like from the president of the LFI group, Mathilde Panot, from the LFI president of the Finance Committee, Éric Coquerel, or even from the ecologist Sandrine Rousseau. They ask for a referral to the Bureau of the institution to decide on possible sanctions.
“The race to punish opposition MPs is extremely worrying. No rule in our rules provides for sanctioning participation in a demonstration. This illiberal turn must stop”, denounced on Twitter the socialist deputy Arthur Delaporte. “By banning everything that bothers you, you are stifling democracy,” said environmentalist Sophie Taillé-Polian, also on Twitter. “We are still awaiting their request for sanctions for Senators LR Retailleau and Eustache-Brinio who speak of “ethnic regression” and “French not really French””, and “for the deputy RN Tanguy who speaks of “facial nationality”. But no, they are the Republican arc,” LFI MP Sarah Legrain lambasted on Twitter.
Last November, thirty-six deputies from the majority (Renaissance and MoDem) had already called in vain for “sanctions” by the National Assembly against deputies participating in banned demonstrations, targeting in particular environmentalists who had participated in a rally. in Sainte-Soline against a water reservoir project.
