French racism at parliament: Go to Africa! VIDEO

 A rightwing French lawmaker has caused uproar by shouting “Go back to Africa” during a Black lawmaker’s comments at a parliamentary session broadcast to the public on November 3.

Grégoire de Fournas, a parliamentary representative from the National Rally (RN) party, interrupted Carlos Martens Bilongo, a representative from the far-left party France Unbowed (LFI) during a session of the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, per CNN.

Bilongo was calling on the French government to cooperate with EU counties – notably Italy and its newly-elected far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – to assist several hundred African migrants rescued from the Mediterranean sea.

De Fournas interrupted, shouting “go back to Africa.”

Chaos immediately ensued in the chamber, leading Yaël Braun-Pivet, President of the National Assembly, to temporarily suspend the session.

Bilongo and his party have described the shout as a racist personal attack, though de Fournas’ party has argued that the interjection was actually intended for the migrants under discussion.

“Today, some people once again put my skin colour at the centre of a debate. I’m born in France and I am a French lawmaker and I didn’t think that today I will be insulted [like this] at the National Assembly,” Bilongo told reporters after the incident.

Mathilde Panot, leader of the far-left France Unbowed group at the National Assembly, has demanded that de Fournas face the toughest punishment for a French lawmaker — expulsion.

“Racists like him have no place in our parliament,” Panot tweeted.

De Fournas said that he was referring to migrants, tweeting that the France Unbowed had “hijacked” his words in a “disgraceful manipulation.”

“My answer concerned the boat and the migrants, obviously not my colleague,” he tweeted.

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