Marine Le Pen waves away moment of uproar in the National Assembly, alleged to be a racist outburst, calling it a ‘crude controversy’
The French parliament was suspended on Thursday after a far-Right MP in Marine Le Pen’s party was accused of shouting “back to Africa” to a black colleague as he posed a question about migrants.
Carlos Martens Bilongo of the Left-wing France Unbowed party (La France Insoumise) was questioning the government on a request sent by the SOS Mediterranee NGO for Paris’s help in finding a port for 234 migrants rescued at sea in recent days.
“They should go back to Africa!” interrupted Gregoire de Fournas, a newly-elected member of Ms Le Pen’s nationalist, anti-immigration National Rally party (RN).
Ms Le Pen has for years insisted that the once racist and xenophobic party of her father Jean-Marie Le Pen – formerly the Front National – is now “de-toxified” and ready to govern.