New hiccup for Jean-Luc Mélenchon? This Thursday, at the University of Lille, the Chief Insoumis and the pro-Palestinian activist Rima Hassan, who appears on the LFI list, are due to speak at a conference on
“current events in Palestine”
. Organized by the
“Free Palestine”
student association
, the conference is hotly contested and this Monday, several political figures are calling for its cancellation.
“In the middle of the European campaign, while the debates are becoming more radical, I am calling on the president of the University of Lille to ask him to cancel this propaganda conference
,” Renaissance MP Violette Spillebout declared this Monday morning on X .
“Yes, it is urgent to put an end to the tragedy in Gaza, but it is not with those who represent the most violent anti-Semitism and the desire to destroy Israel that the debates will progress towards peace,”
he said .
she continued before sending a letter to the president of the University to have the conference canceled. In her missive, Martine Aubry's former chief of staff denounces in particular the logo of the student association which implies, for some, the disappearance of the State of Israel.
A criticism notably shared by the president (LR) of the Hauts-de-France region Xavier Bertrand:
“We cannot tolerate, in a French university, such a conference by France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Rima Hassan which , through the “Free Palestine” logo, deny the existence of the State of Israel. I ask the University of Lille and the prefect to cancel this conference
. National Rally MP Sébastien Chenu also requested the cancellation of the conference, refusing to allow
“our universities”
to serve as
“a folding seat for a political meeting where anti-Semitic remarks will probably be made”
. Last week, similar conferences had already been canceled at the last minute, in Rennes for Jean-Luc Mélenchon and in Bordeaux for Rima Hassan.