Violent exchanges took place in the Four Columns Hall on Tuesday, after a rebellious MP brandished a Palestinian flag in the National Assembly.
During questions to the government (QAG) in the National Assembly, this Tuesday, May 28, the LFI deputy for Bouches-du-Rhône, Sébastien Delogu, brandished a Palestinian flag while the Minister Delegate in charge of Foreign Trade and attractiveness of France, Franck Riester, spoke at the microphone. A gesture which triggered strong reactions within the hemicycle, behind the scenes and forced the President of the Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, to suspend the session. She notably denounced “unacceptable” behavior.
“This gentleman is a pig, he shames France”
The controversy did not stop there. From the QAG, the president of the environmental group Cyrielle Chatelain described Prime Minister Gabriel Attal as “pathetic” when discussing the current situation in Gaza. As a reminder, new bombings took place during the night from Monday to Tuesday, causing the deaths of seven new people. Six others were also injured in the attack. Videos of decapitated babies and burned men are also circulating on social media.
In the corridors of the Assembly, several sweet words were exchanged between deputies, and in particular in the Four Columns room. A very muscular discussion thus took place between the rebellious deputy David Guiraud, and the related deputy Les Républicains, Meyer Habib. “Get out of here, go away. You’re the pig, you’re in the mud of genocide,” said the first to the second. “I regret the death of all the children,” retorted the second, before vehemently calling him “rot.” The two men pushed each other to the point of touching and insulting each other in front of the numerous journalists present on site. “You shame the National Assembly,” asserted Meyer Habib.
“This gentleman is a pig. He has defended a genocide from the start, he is a pig. He shames France. We should all be ashamed of being represented by people like that. This gentleman is only doing support what is happening today in Palestine, that is to say a genocide, this is the true face of the supporters of the genocide”, regretted David Guiraud during the same lively exchange.
“I don’t care at all about the sentence”
Sébastien Delogu took responsibility and claimed responsibility for his actions in the Assembly. “I waved the Palestinian flag within the largest French institution because as we speak, France is selling parts that arm the Israeli army. Children are being massacred by French weapons “, did he declare. “I don’t care at all about the sentence that the President of the Assembly will give me, it would be a medal for me to have a sanction, a source of pride,” he added.
The MP has since been excluded from the National Assembly for 15 days. His elected compensation was also partially suspended following a sit/stand vote. Thus, Sébastien Delogu will see half of his parliamentary allowance withdrawn for two months.
20:41 – “The silence of France and the European Union is blatant,” says Marie Toussaint
Asked to react on the subject, the head of the environmentalist list, Marie Toussaint, affirmed on LCI that she could also have waved a flag within the National Assembly if she had had the opportunity. “It’s possible because the silence of France and the European Union is blatant,” she replied. “France and Europe must continue to act to guarantee peace, a just and lasting peace, a two-state solution,” she pleaded, calling for an “immediate and permanent ceasefire”.
19:43 – Emmanuel Macron says he is “ready to recognize a Palestinian state”, but…
A few hours after the session of questions to the government interrupted in the Assembly when an LFI deputy brandished the Palestinian flag, the French president, visiting Germany, spoke on the recognition of a Palestinian state. “There is no taboo for France, I am totally ready to recognize a Palestinian state,” he declared, specifying however that he would only do so at “a useful moment, at a moment where it is part of a process in which the States of the region and Israel are engaged and which allows, on the basis of a reform of the Palestinian Authority, to produce a useful result. And to insist: “I will not make an acknowledgment of emotion.”
18:47 – Sébastien Delogu excluded from the Assembly after brandishing the Palestinian flag
The sentence has fallen. After brandishing a Palestinian flag in the National Assembly this Tuesday, LFI deputy Sébastien Delogu received the highest sanction that can be permitted by the regulations of the Palais Bourbon, namely: a 15-day exclusion and the partial withdrawal of his parliamentary allowance. “He was guilty of provocation against the National Assembly,” judged the president of the lower house, Yaël Braun-Pivet. The sanction was approved by a sit/stand vote. Beyond the 15 days of exclusion from the Assembly, it also provides for the withdrawal of half of the MP’s compensation for two months.