The Lille prosecutor's office announced on Tuesday February 14 the opening of an investigation for "
public provocation to racial hatred
" after the announcement by "
La Citadelle
", headquarters of the ultra-right movement in Lille, of an evening called "
Qu 'they are going back to Africa
', which Gérald Darmanin had announced would be banned.
This investigation for “
public provocation to hatred or violence because of origin, ethnicity or race
” was opened on February 13, following in particular a report from the prefectural services on Friday, indicates the prosecution. Lille in a message to AFP, confirming information from
La Voix du Nord
.
“Let them go back to Africa”
"
La Citadelle
" had published on social networks the announcement of this evening scheduled for February 24, entitled "
Let them return to Africa
".
The mayor of Lille Martine Aubry had challenged the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin on Twitter, regretting "
that once again Génération Identitaire and the bar 'La Citadelle' are organizing a racist evening
".
The former first secretary of the PS also asked the state services "
to close
" this private circle, which presents itself as a "
patriotic bar
" and a "
house of identity
".
Gérald Darmanin assured in the wake of having "
asked the prefect of the North to ban this demonstration (...) directly inciting racial hatred
".
Contacted this Tuesday afternoon by AFP, the prefecture indicated that the ban order would be taken “
in the next few hours
”.
The host of La Citadelle, Aurélien Verhassel, told AFP on Thursday February 9 of his intention to file an interim order before the Lille administrative court to maintain the evening, which, according to him "does not fall under
the of the law
”.
Read also“Let him return to Africa”: the day the deputy RN Grégoire de Fournas set the Assembly ablaze
On its site and its Facebook page, “
La Citadelle
” indicates that it is organizing this “
special evening
” in “
honor
” of the deputy RN Grégoire de Fournas, taking up a declaration by the latter launched on November 3 at the National Assembly.
The parliamentarian had been sanctioned with an exclusion from the session for 15 days and the loss of half of his parliamentary allowance for two months, the heaviest disciplinary sanction possible.