LFI MP Sébastien Delogu was heavily sanctioned after brandishing the Palestinian flag this Tuesday in the National Assembly. “It was a way for me to write history,” he says.
“By waving a Palestinian flag, will the president finally wake up and say to himself that we must stop selling weapons?” launched Sébastien Delogu after his gesture, Tuesday May 28 at the National Assembly. One thing is certain, the LFI deputy received the heaviest sanction permitted by the internal regulations of the hemicycle: a fifteen-day exclusion from the Palais Bourbon, accompanied by the withdrawal of half of his parliamentary allowance for two months.
A decision confirmed by the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, who suspended the session after the incident yesterday. As a reminder, during the question session to the government (QAG) this Tuesday, Sébastien Delogu stood up and brandished a Palestinian flag while the Minister of Foreign Trade, Franck Riester, began to respond to LFI MP Alma Dufour on the situation in the Middle East. Which triggered a real outcry, from the hemicycle, behind the scenes, and even in the Four Columns room among deputies.
“I took my courage in both hands, I did it and I’m proud of it”
The deputy Rebellious France from the 7th constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône, Sébastien Delogu was sanctioned under article 70 of chapter XIV of the regulations of the National Assembly, relating to discipline, immunity and ethics. The article provides that “any member of the Assembly who engages in demonstrations disturbing the order or who provokes a tumultuous scene may be subject to disciplinary penalties.”
“It was a way for me to write history in my own way, firstly. Secondly, to raise awareness of the Palestinian cause and what is happening in Palestine because I had the impression that the images we see decapitated children, completely decimated families had become a bit banal” he explained on BFMTV. “I told myself that something had to be done. I took my courage in both hands, I did it and I am proud of it,” he continues.
Punishment ? “A decoration” for Delogu according to Mélenchon
A gesture welcomed by the leaders of LFI. “I am proud of MP Sébastien Delogu and I think that by performing this symbolic act in the hemicycle, he has, I think, made a gesture which corresponds to our duty before humanity. Our duty and our responsibility is is to ensure that France, through the President of the Republic, does not remain silent” explained Manuel Bompard, coordinator of Rebellious FranceTuesday evening on BFMTV.
For his part, Jean-Luc Mélenchon judges the sanction imposed on MP Delogu as “a decoration” for him, “and a shame forever for those who voted for it”. As a reminder, during an office vote in the Assembly, the majority of deputies voted for the temporary exclusion of their colleague from Bouches-du-Rhône. “I don’t care at all about the sanction that the National Assembly will give me” he said just after his gesture. “There is a genocide underway there. Few people dare to say the word genocide, but it is important to remember that children are being massacred by French weapons,” he also declared.