The French Parliament was suspended on Thursday after a far-right MP shouted, “Go back to Africa!” as a black lawmaker asked a question about immigration.
Grégoire de Fournas, of Marine Le Pen’s RN party, shouted at Carlos Martens Bilongo during a debate on migrant and refugee arrivals, causing uproar in the National Assembly.
Mr Bilongo, 31, who was a teacher and activist before entering politics, responded to the abuse by saying: “I asked a question to the government, as is done every week in the Assembly.
“Except that I couldn’t get to the end of my question, because a deputy from the National Rally interrupted me by shouting at me ‘Go back to Africa!’
“I didn’t think I would ever hear these words in the National Assembly. But racism always catches up, even in the most prestigious places of the republic.”
Sickening and worrying. A French far-right MP yelled at NUPES MP Carlos Martens Bilongo to "return to Africa". The Assembly was shocked. The session was suspended. pic.twitter.com/xh9DnlcyLF
— Rim-Sarah Alouane (@RimSarah) November 3, 2022
The French far right argued Mr de Fournas was not aiming the words at the MP who asked the question, but at migrants stranded on an NGO boat.
Stephane Sejourne, who leads President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party, said Mr de Fournas should resign, and the left-wing Nupes alliance said that he should be expelled.
“There is no room for racism in our democracy. The Bureau of the National Assembly will convene (on Friday) and should decide on necessary sanction,” Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told reporters after the incident.
Mr De Fournas, a member of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN), and his party argued that he said nothing wrong.
He “obviously spoke about the migrants transported in boats by the NGOs,” Le Pen tweeted. “The controversy created by our political opponents ... will not deceive the French.”
National Vice-President of The Republicains Gilles Platret tweeted: “If the video was ambiguous, the publication of the debates of the Assembly removes all doubt this morning: the deputy De Fournas says ‘Let him return to Africa’ about the migrant boat and not ‘Return to Africa’ at the address of deputy Carlos Martens Bilongo. So no insult.”
