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When the Assembly turns into a cauldron: these violent debates that marked parliamentary history

2023-02-15T14:47:03.454Z


Particularly denounced during the debates against pension reform, violence has often punctuated parliamentary history.


A "

discouraging spectacle

", "

bordélisation ", "

unworthy

" attitudes

... There is no shortage of expressions to describe the quality of the debates currently being held in the National Assembly.

For the past week, discussions around the pension reform carried out by the government have indeed been particularly stormy.

Almost every day, a new scene of mostly verbal violence takes place in the hemicycle.

A historical review allows us to understand that tension is part of the French parliamentary tradition.

As the academic and co-author of “Parliamentary violence in perspective” Jean Vigreux points out, Parliament is even “

the only place where the representatives of the people can express themselves and confront each other

”.

"

It's a spectacle that can be distressing, but which also reveals strong fractures in society

," he explains.

To illustrate this story,

Le Figaro

retraces some of the most striking scenes.

  • The oratory duel of Jaurès and Clémenceau, in 1907

Paris is plunged into darkness on March 8, 1907. Following a surprise strike, the lighting in the capital suddenly stops.

In response, Interior Minister Georges Clemenceau closed the meeting place of the strikers, located at the Labor Exchange.

Army soldiers are ordered to replace the strikers to put the electricity plants back into operation.

Read alsoRight to strike: Jaurès and Clemenceau clash in 1907 in a memorable oratorical duel

Three days later, the socialist leader, Jean Jaurès, challenges Georges Clemenceau to the Chamber of Deputies.

He accuses him of nullifying the right to strike of electrical workers, during a severe draw involving in particular a "

nervousness of mind

".

Opposite, his interlocutor also responds sharply, and defends the “

right of society to live

”.

All covered by the exclamations, laughter, applause and cries of parliamentarians.

  • A country

    "governed by a Jew": in 1936, Léon Blum attacked by the far right

1936, first socialist government of the Third Republic.

In front of the Chamber of Deputies, the new President of the Council of Ministers, Léon Blum, delivers his speech on general policy.

That day, the deputy Xavier Vallat challenges him.

Former Commissioner General for Jewish Affairs of the Vichy government, he declared, despite the warnings of President Édouard Herriot: "

There is a reason which forbids me to vote for the ministry of Mr. Blum: it is Mr. Blum himself .

Your coming to power, Mr. Chairman of the Board, is unquestionably a historic date.

For the first time, this old Gallo-Roman country will be governed by a Jew.

»

The remarks lead to "

strong complaints from the far left and the left

", as the archives of the Official Journal trace.

On the far left and on the left, the deputies stand and applaud Mr. President of the Council

”, can we also read.

Édouard Herriot condemns " inadmissible

" words

, and asks the elected official to "

withdraw

" them.

The incident leads to a call to order and entry in the minutes.

Read alsoIn the “trenches” of the Palais Bourbon, the week under high tension for deputies

  • Communists exfiltrated in March 1950

The scene remains one of the liveliest to date.

On March 3, 1950, and while the PCF had 167 deputies, the communist deputy Gérard Duprat was refused the floor before the vote on a bill on elections to the boards of directors of social security organizations and Family allowances.

Alongside his colleague Arthur Musmeaux, the chosen one seizes the podium by force.

The session is suspended, and the temporary exclusion of the deputy voted.

But the latter refuses to leave the Assembly.

The military commander of the Palace is finally called upon, who evacuates the hemicycle.

  • In 1967, the last duel of deputies

"

Stupid

".

Referred to by this term, the Gaullist deputy René Ribière demands more than an apology.

From his socialist opponent Gaston Defferre, he demands... a duel with a sword.

Supposed to clear his honor, this one is held on April 21, 1967 in Neuilly.

The duel ends when Gaston Defferre makes René Ribière's blood flow.

This scene, already considered anachronistic at the time, marks the last political confrontation of this type.

The duel of the two deputies, April 21, 1967. AFP

  • Simone Veil's "difficult" debates in

    1974

On a personal level, some moments of the parliamentary debates were difficult.

This is how Simone Veil sums up the discussions surrounding her project on the legalization of voluntary termination of pregnancy, in November 1974

. from time to time, it has been really difficult times

, ”she adds.

Read alsoThe debate on the abortion law in 1974, "a matter of conscience"

That year, the violence was above all verbal.

In the hemicycle, for 26 hours, the Minister of Health suffered the insults of her opponents.

The one who is also a survivor of the concentration camps is accused of wanting to set up a “

legal genocide

”, leading to throwing lives “

in the crematorium

”.

"

It's barbarism organized and covered by the law as it was, alas, thirty years ago by Nazism in Germany

", he is told on the side of the right.

Years later, the head of state at the time, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, recounts these “

difficult and very violent

” debates.

  • The tears of Christine Boutin on Pacs, in 1998

She was at the time one of the figures of the opposition to Pacs.

On December 2, 1998, UDF deputy Christine Boutin was directly targeted by the socialist prime minister, Lionel Jospin.

After days of electric debates, the head of government criticizes the opposition for having entrusted “

its vision of this social problem to a marginal MP on these issues, and outrageous in her remarks

”.

Opposite, the chosen one collapses.

She then goes down to face the Prime Minister directly, surrounded by the ushers of the Palace.

Read alsoChristine Boutin and Pacs, from an ovation to tears

"

Since I am a marginal, I call on all French people to demonstrate at the end of January against the Pacs

", launches Christine Boutin at the exit of the hemicycle.

His colleagues condemn Lionel Jospin's words, while the left mocks his reaction, deemed by some "

totally unsuited to the political world

".

  • Hollande's "cowardice" denounced by de Villepin in 2006

They almost came to blows.

In 2006, the deputy and first secretary of the Socialist Party, François Hollande, took the microphone during the sequence of “questions to the government”.

He questions Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and accuses him of having "

lost the confidence

" of the French and his majority.

"

In a democracy worthy of the name, the Head of State or Parliament would have put an end to this situation, but we are in a regime of irresponsibility

," he says.

In response, the head of government lost his temper.

He denounces “

the facility

”, but especially “

the cowardice

” of the attitude of François Hollande.

Bronca of the Socialists, who rise and leave their places.

Stop, sit down!

“, Jean-Louis Debré, president of the Lower House, repeatedly launches them.

Nothing works.

The elected officials try to gain access to the Prime Minister and are prevented from doing so by the ushers who surround him.

The sitting is suspended.

The attitude of Dominique de Villepin is almost unanimously denounced, and François Hollande calls for an apology.

Socialist deputies leaving their seats to head towards de Villepin.

FRED DUFOUR / AFP

  • The debates on marriage for all punctuated by invectives

Reflecting the palpable tension in the country, scenes of hostility are multiplying in the Assembly.

In 2015, the debates around Marriage for all are noticeably tense.

The Keeper of the Seals, Christiane Taubira, is regularly targeted, both by protesters and elected officials.

Like the president of the UMP group Christian Jacob, who accuses him during the discussions of being "

unworthy

" of his position.

Christian Jacob again, also attacks the Socialist Vice-President of the Lower House, Laurence Dumont.

Calling for a suspension of the meeting, and the index pointed towards the elected, he raises his voice.

To support him, the UMP deputies who surround him stand up.

Sit down, sit down!

», shout the socialists to them.

Lay down, lay down!

“, they reply.

We are here by the will of the people!

»

Read alsoPro and anti-gay marriage worried about violence

A few days later, the ecologist Serge Coronado also criticizes Christian Jacob for having called him "

hysterical

".

At the microphone, he lets go: “

You could have been more frank and (…) call me a faggot.

The right-wing MP later demanded an apology.

  • "You are nothing":

    under Macron,

    the first pension reform already marked by scandals

The last example is recent, and dates back to Emmanuel Macron's first attempt to reform pensions.

In 2020, the bill carried by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is already generating lively discussions.

On the benches, the MoDem rapporteur for the text, Nicolas Turquois, watches the rebellious deputies string together their amendments, to demand that the date for the implementation of the reform be postponed.

The chosen one is amused by it first, before putting down his notes and letting go: “

Some of you have said, 'the Republic is me'.

Well I tell you that the Republic is us and that you are nothing!

»

The MP finally returned to apologize, accusing fatigue and regretting having "

given in to the provocations of the opposition, which refuses to examine the text on the merits by multiplying the amendments

".

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2023-02-15

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