Mosque Attack Suspect’s 2015 Photo with Le Pen Sparks Controversy for Far-Right Party

Social networks are raging after the release of this shot taken by the photographer, Isabelle Louvier, reports Sudouest. For its part, the Rassemblement national (RN) is trying to get out of this embarrassing situation.

After the announcement of the attack on the Bayonne mosque, which occurred on October 28, 2019, Marine Le Pen, President of the RN, condemned the act.

"The attack on the Bayonne mosque is an unqualifiable act absolutely contrary to all the values carried by our movement," she wrote on her Twitter account.

In addition, the RN rejects "any amalgamation" concerning the photo showing its President in the company of Claude Sinké, a former party candidate in the 2015 cantonal elections, also the alleged author of the attack on the Bayonne mosque.

"At the end of the election (EDITOR’S NOTE: of 2015), Claude Sinké was removed from his departmental federation for having made statements deemed contrary to the spirit and political line of the party. He has not since participated in any action of the movement and is no longer a member," the RN wrote in a statement.

In his book, "La France à Cœur ouvert, ou regards sur la misère humaine", published in August 2014, Claude Sinké had made no secret of his Islamophobia and homophobia.