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French MP to press charges after racist death threat

Jean-François Mbaye, an MP with the ruling Republic on the Move (REM) party, has received a racist letter in which the unnamed author promised him “a bullet in the head”. The Senegalese-born parlementarian is to press charges.

Jean-Francois Mbaye attends a debate at the French National Assembly in Paris, July 2017
Jean-Francois Mbaye attends a debate at the French National Assembly in Paris, July 2017 AFP
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Mbaye published a copy of the letter Friday on his Twitter account. It accuses him of being “the token black, like the ones used in adverts to make people believe the French aren’t racist”.

The letter-writer also questioned “the right an African has to meddle in France’s problems”.

Mbaye’s reaction was unequivocal. “In 2019, this is what I’m still receiving in my office at the National Assembly from anonymous cowards," he tweeted. "Am I shocked? Scared ? NO! I am all the more determined to eradicate this racist scourge in our beautiful country, France. Of course, I’ll be pressing charges."

Three MPs targeted

The anonymous letter also targets two other REM lawmakers Laetitia Avia and Hervé Berville.

Avia, whose parents are from Togo, had already received a letter with racist insults and death threats in February this year. "We're not going to let a fat black swine from Africa meddle in the lives of the French," it said.

François de Rugy, Minister for ecological transition, roundly condemned this latest anonymous letter, tweeting his "support" for the three MPs.

Health minister Agnès Buzyn also took to twitter. “No words are harsh or strong enough to describe this abject letter” she wrote.

SOS Racisme, France’s leading anti-racism body, issued a strongly worded communiqué.

“In France, in 2019, some people still cannot digest the fact that black people - whom they see as Negros, irremediably wild and backward - can represent the nation.”

The communiqué denounced “speech of unbridled racism” saying this latest attack was reminiscent of several “much bigger and more aggressive" ones.

It cited the case of former French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira in which she was compared to a monkey.

The far-right National Front (now National Rally) candidate who made the comparison on her facebook page was subsequently sacked from the party.

 

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