Far-Right French MP Expelled from Parliament for 15 Days Over Racist Outburst

Grégoire de Fournas pays dearly for his misdemeanor. He was excluded for fifteen days from the National Assembly for "manifestation disturbing the order, or causing a tumultuous scene." Taken by the Bureau of the National Assembly on Friday, this decision was confirmed by a vote in the hemicycle. The sanction corresponds to "what we were demanding," said Mathilde Panot, president of the LFI group.

Marine Le Pen, for her part, expresses her indignation. "This is a political trial that condemns a political idea: that which considers that the NGO boats must deposit the migrants not in Europe but in the ports of departure. This trial is contrary to democracy and freedom of expression," she reacted.

On Thursday, as LFI-Nupes deputy from Val-d’Oise Carlos Martens Bilongo of African origin was questioning the government about a boat transporting migrants in the Mediterranean, RN deputy from Gironde Grégoire de Fournas shouted at him: "Let him go back to Africa!" This caused an uproar. Afterwards, the elected official defended himself, saying he had not targeted his fellow deputy, but rather the humanitarian ship Ocean Viking blocked at sea with 234 migrants.