His family did not recognize him on television on Sunday night.
Invited on LCI to discuss the conflict in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, Jean-Luc Mélenchon surprised his world by pointing directly to the Chechen community.
The assailant who beheaded the history professor, Samuel Paty, is from there.
"I think there is a problem with the Chechen community in France,"
said the leader of La France Insoumise, recalling the settling of scores last June in Dijon orchestrated by members of this community.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon even proposed to
"take over one by one all the files of the Chechens present in France".
"It's up to him to explain it"
Never had the leader of the Insoumis designated a group of people so clearly because of their origin.
Enough to arouse indignation on the left ... and trouble among his people.
“I don't know exactly what he wanted to say about it.
I think the term 'community' does not sound like him at all, it is not in his usual language so in my opinion his language has forked over the word 'community', I think so ”
, for example explained the LFI deputy Clémentine Autain at France Info Tuesday.
“Behind that, what does he want to put?
Maybe it's up to him to explain, ”
she suggested.
Should this be seen as a strategy on the part of the leader of the Insoumis?
By specifically targeting a community, did he want to tone down his remarks made a little earlier - again quite unprecedented - on
"Islamist terrorism"
?
Jean-Luc Mélenchon is regularly accused of being
"linked to Islamo-leftism"
, and therefore of showing complacency towards radical Islam ...
"The problem is political Islamism, not the Chechens.
(...) Not wanting to clearly designate political Islamism, we come to essentialize a nation rather than another, “
deplored Olivier Faure, the first secretary of the Socialist Party, Tuesday in
Le Parisien
.
"Mr.
Mélenchon has a speech which closely resembles that of Mme. Le Pen ”
As of Sunday evening, in small committee, Jean-Luc Mélenchon had however recognized in front of his close relations that his "
formula had been unhappy"
.
Invited on France 2 Monday morning, Adrien Quatennens, LFI deputy and right hand of the Insoumis leader, had tried to save the furniture.
The national coordinator of the movement assured that the head of LFI had
"had the opportunity to say that he had made a mistake by using the term community which gives the impression of attacking such and such
.
"
Not enough to stop the controversy.
Unsurprisingly, the government grabbed the buck.
Guest of BFM TV on Tuesday evening, Gérald Darmanin did not do in half measures.
“I heard Mr. Mélenchon say that there was a problem with the Chechen community.
He is progressing very, very quickly, maybe even a little too far.
He is too far to the right for me,
”joked the Minister of the Interior.
Before issuing a call to order to the head of LFI:
“All Chechen refugees are not all radical Islamists.
Mr. Mélenchon has a speech which is very similar to that of Ms. Le Pen.
I am surprised and I appeal to his most lively moderation
, ”asked Gérald Darmanin.
A parallel with the president of the National Rally unbearable for the rebellious.
To make matters worse, the spokesperson for the Association of Chechens of Europe, Albakov Schamil, asked its members to file a complaint against Jean-Luc Mélenchon for
"incitement to hatred".
The Association of Chechens in Europe has asked its members to file a complaint against Jean-Luc Mélenchon for "
incitement to hatred
", its spokesperson Albakov Schamil announced on Tuesday.
A simple
"mistake"
therefore, which could well be resolved in court.
