A visit that does not pass through the ranks of the National Rally. Joris Hebrard, deputy for Vaucluse, inaugurated last week a mosque of the Franco-Turkish cultural association in Pontet, on the outskirts of Avignon. Marine Le Pen expressed her disagreement.
“It is a personal initiative that I very clearly disapprove of,” the patron of the RN-elect responded to the National Assembly on Wednesday, saying that she had not been warned “at all” of this visit.
“The ban on the veil, essential”
In photos shared in particular by Marion Maréchal, former RN deputy for Vaucluse, now an executive at Reconquest, we see the deputy smiling alongside dignitaries from the Franco-Turkish community posing in front of a Turkish flag.
Other shots on social media also show an opening party that brings together veiled girls and the teenage girls present.
What a shame for Marine Le Pen who had hammered during the presidential campaign that the veil ban was “essential”. The candidate has also wanted to legislate to “fight against Islamist fundamentalism.”
“The right to make mistakes once”
Asked about possible sanctions of the RN deputy, the 50-year-old woman said she believed in the “right to be wrong” as for “the tax collector”. “But it’s once, I think,” added the former head of the movement.
If the reaction is very measured, it is because the movement can hardly do without Joris Hebrard in the Vaucluse. Jean-Luc Mélenchon won in the first round and Emmanuel Macron soundly defeated Marine Le Pen in the second round. Then mayor of Pontet, one of the municipalities in his district, this professional physiotherapist had benefited from strong local roots.
“A very established Turkish community”
The sequence, however, is even worse in the ranks of the RN, since Marine Le Pen has repeatedly called for “sanctioning” Turkey, which she considers responsible for the periodic influx of immigrants to the Greek borders.
On the side of the deputy Joris Hébrard, we suppose. Contacted by France Inter, the elected official argues “that the Turkish community is deeply rooted” in the town. The parliamentarian, perhaps aware of the symbol, however had not shared photos of the event on his Twitter account, which nevertheless broadcasts many other local visits.
The section of the Reconquest in the Vaucluse, to which Marion Maréchal belongs, for its part requested his exclusion from the RN.
Source: BFM TV
