Racism row over French far-right MP's 'go back to Africa' outburst
A French parliament session was suspended on Thursday after the turmoil caused by a far-right MP shouting "back to Africa" as a black colleague posed a question on migrant arrivals to the government.
Carlos Martens Bilongo of the leftist France Unbowed party (LFI) was questioning the government on the request by the SOS Mediterranee NGO for Paris's help in finding a port for 234 migrants rescued at sea in recent days.
"Go back to Africa!" interrupted Grégoire de Fournas, a newly-elected member of the far-right, anti-immigration National Rally (RN).
The outburst sparked yells of condemnation and chants demanding de Fournas leave the assembly.
In French, the pronouns "he" (il) and "they" (ils) — as heard in the 'Qu'il retourne en Afrique' phrase uttered by De Fournas — are pronounced the same, suggesting that he might have been targeting Bilongo directly.
The Speaker of the Parliament, Yael Braun-Pivet, was eventually forced to suspend the session.
Bilongo said the comments were "shameful".
"Today it's come back to the colour of my skin. I was born in France, I am a French MP," he added.
A member of Macron's entourage said the president was "hurt" by the "intolerable" comments, while Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne urged the assembly to sanction the far-right MP, adding that "racism has no place in our democracy".
The far-right leader of RN, Marine Le Pen, backed her MP on Twitter by saying, "the controversy created by our political opponents is obvious and will not fool the French people".
Le Pen challenged Macron in this year's presidential vote and then led her party to its best-ever performance in subsequent legislative elections, with 89 MPs.
The far-right party was founded by her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, but his daughter
Read more on euronews.com
