The three groups of the presidential majority in the National Assembly called on Tuesday, July 11, 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 deputies from La France insoumise (LFI) and Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV), marched in Paris on Saturday in memory of the 24-year-old young man, who died seven years ago shortly after his arrest. by gendarmes. The rally had been banned by the Prefecture of Police, 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 President (Renaissance) of the Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet.

This article provides that any member of the Assembly “may be subject to disciplinary punishment” by engaging in “demonstrations disturbing the order” or if he “causes a tumultuous scene”.

“The article says that the president of the meeting has a power of sanction when there is a disturbance of order, but not a disturbance of public order: a disturbance in the proper functioning of the debates” at l ‘Assembly, retorted in a press conference the socialist deputy Arthur Delaporte. Otherwise, “the Assembly would replace justice and there it is extremely serious”, insisted the elected representative of Calvados.

In a joint statement, the presidents of the Nupes groups (LFI, PS, EELV, PCF) asked Ms. Braun-Pivet “not to lend themselves to this new pressure”. No question, according to them, of giving the power “to a majority to limit the exercise of the mandate and the freedom of expression of an opposition deputy”.

Tricolor scarf

The three signatories of the letter request a referral to the office of the institution to decide on possible sanctions. They denounce the fact that the “deputies wore their tricolor scarf on this occasion and maintained their presence at a demonstration with the slogan of” everyone hates the police “”, citing by name elected officials, such as the president of the LFI group, Mathilde Panot , the LFI president of the finance commission, Eric Coquerel, or even the ecologist Sandrine Rousseau.

“It’s a slogan sung for years and no one has ever been to hold the deputies who were in these demonstrations accountable, it’s staggering”, denounced to Agence France-Presse Eric Coquerel. “I will hold all the deputies to account in these cases who applauded the far-right unions who explained that justice was a problem, before the National Assembly,” he continued, referring to a demonstration of police unions in 2021 in which elected officials had participated. “By banning everything that bothers you, you are stifling democracy,” environmentalist Sophie Taillé-Polian tweeted.

Rassemblement national deputy Aurélien Lopez-Liguori raised the subject in the National Assembly during the session of questions to the government, accusing “La France insoumise and the ecologists of blowing on the embers of anarchy”. “It is up to the French to punish them at the ballot box and up to justice to act,” he said.

The Keeper of the Seals, Eric Dupond-Moretti, replied that he found it “scandalous” that the deputies present had not left the demonstration when the police were criticized. “Participating in a prohibited demonstration is an offence,” he stressed, suggesting that Mr. Lopez-Liguori file a report. On Twitter, Mathilde Panot pinned back a “disgusting reactionary and authoritarian arc”.

“Those who marched to the sound of ‘everyone hates the police’ without stepping aside, without tweeting, without regretting, do not dishonor the national police but dishonor their mandate and the lives of politicians” , insisted the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin. “Rather than giving publicity to extremists who spit on the graves of dead police officers, (…) I would like you to applaud all the police officers who died on duty”, he replied to MP Emilie Chandler (Renaissance) before d make a list.

In November, thirty-six deputies from the majority (Renaissance and MoDem) unsuccessfully called for “sanctions” by the National Assembly against deputies participating in banned demonstrations, targeting in particular environmentalists who participated in the one in Sainte- Soline against a water reservoir project.