The French National Assembly has decided to sanction a far-right deputy accused of utter a racist slur in the middle of a session when a black leftist legislator referred to a humanitarian ship carrying rescued migrants on board.

As a punishment for the incident, the French Chamber decided to exclude the legislator Grégoire de Fournas for 15 days of sessions and to deprive him of half of his salary as a parliamentarian for two months.

“Racism, regardless of its goal, is the denial of the republican values ​​that unite us in this chamber,” said Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet after deputies approved the sanction.

Last Thursday, during a control session with the Government, De Fournas would have shouted “back to Africa” ​​or “back to Africa” to deputy Carlos Martens Bilongo, from La Francia Insumisa (LFI, radical left), when he asked for information on the arrival of immigrants.

French phonetics makes it difficult to know whether De Fournas was referring to the migrants or to the deputy of Congolese origin. However, the transcript of the session of the Chamber includes the singular expression: “Return to Africa”.

For the companions of Martens Bilongo there were no doubts. In a video recording of what happened, you can see how their faces change, denoting first surprise and then indignation.

Agrupación Nacional, the far-right party to which De Fournas belongs, assures that his deputy he was referring to the “ship” of migrants quoted in the question and “in no case” to Martens Bilongo, a thesis defended instead by La Francia Insumisa.

“We are facing a manipulation of LFI that try to distort my statements to make me say unpleasant things about a French colleague, who has the same legitimacy as me in these caucuses, “said De Fournas.

Carlos Martens Bilongo expressed his “sadness”. “It is embarrassing that I have reduced myself to the color of my skin today “, added the left-wing deputy, defending the thesis that the sentence was addressed to him.

The episode reached the highest levels of French politics and aroused widespread criticism.

President Emmanuel Macron said he was “shocked” by the “intolerable” statements of the far-right legislator and “expressed his support for the insulted parliamentarian,” according to his relatives.

“Racism has no place in our democracy,” Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne said.

The incident occurred after the government announced a series of measures against irregular immigration.

The right and far right accuse Macron of not doing enough to expel immigrants who have been denied residence permits.

In particular, the government proposes to create a residence permit to attract foreign workers to jobs with shortage of labor and to include people in an irregular situation with a deportation order in the police wanted list.