The mask slips: Marine Le Pen backs ex-generals who threaten possible 'coup'

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Marine Le Pen in March 2021. © Xose Bouzas / Hans Lucas via AFP Marine Le Pen in March 2021. © Xose Bouzas / Hans Lucas via AFP

A letter signed by 23 retired French generals, who warn that the military might have to “intervene” in a “civil war” because of a failure by the French state to crack down on “Islamists”, has caused a political row. Defence minister Florence Parly has warned of “consequences” for any active soldiers on the list of signatories, which includes scores of other senior ranks. Meanwhile Marine Le Pen, the president of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party, has given the retired generals her support. As Lucie Delaporte reports, her backing for such views is a stark reminder of what the RN really stands for, after a decade in which Le Pen has sought to soften the party's image.

The grim reasons why French police officers have become prime targets for terrorists

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Jihadist propaganda publications often target the French police. © DR Jihadist propaganda publications often target the French police. © DR

The murder of a policewoman at Rambouillet, south west of Paris, on Friday April 23rd brought to 12 the number of members of the police and security forces who have been killed in terrorist attacks in France since 2015. Overall, attacks targeting police officers have grown in number over that period. This “French exception”  is a phenomenon which has become more prevalent since the collapse of Islamic State's self-styled 'Caliphate' in the Middle East. Matthieu Suc reports.

Probe launched into racist comments at France's school for judges

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School for judges: the École nationale de la magistrature (ENM) at Bordeaux. © Valentino BELLONI / Hans Lucas via AFP School for judges: the École nationale de la magistrature (ENM) at Bordeaux. © Valentino BELLONI / Hans Lucas via AFP

Documents seen by Mediapart reveal that some students at the school where France's future judges and prosecutors are trained used racist language on a private online document. The comments made by the students, who are poised to graduate from the École Nationale de la Magistrature and start their careers, include “France for the French” and “Arabs Out”. The college's authorities informed prosecutors in Bordeaux who have now opened a criminal investigation. David Perrotin reports.

Scandal of racist and sexist language used at organisation delivering Paris Olympics

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Nicolas Ferrand, CEO of SOLIDEO, during a presentation of a model of the Olympic village in November 2019, watched by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo. © Stéphane DE SAKUTIN / AFP Nicolas Ferrand, CEO of SOLIDEO, during a presentation of a model of the Olympic village in November 2019, watched by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo. © Stéphane DE SAKUTIN / AFP

An investigation by Mediapart has revealed a pattern of anti-Roma insults, sexist behaviour and prejudice towards residents of a high-immigration area among certain staff at an organisation helping to deliver the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. After Mediapart raised the issue with management three employees at SOLIDEO – the body overseeing construction of the Games infrastructure - have been suspended and an internal inquiry has been established. Previous attempts to raise the issue internally, including the referral of complaints to the office of Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo,  apparently had little effect. Jade Lindgaard and Antton Rouget report.

How Covid-19 caused 'historic' fall in life expectancy in France

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The mortuary at the Bichat hospital in Paris, January 29th 2021. © Joel Saget/AFP The mortuary at the Bichat hospital in Paris, January 29th 2021. © Joel Saget/AFP

While France last week passed the landmark official figure of 100,000 deaths from Covid-19, some have questioned the real significance of the disease on the deathrate of the elderly and the physically weak who, they bluntly argue, would have died sooner or later from other causes. Rozenn Le Saint turned to demographers for their insight into a clouded debate.

The bizarre case of Guinean apprentice facing deportation from France

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Yaya Camara and his employer Robert Duarte. © Mediapart Yaya Camara and his employer Robert Duarte. © Mediapart

Earlier this year, a young Guinean apprentice baker in Besançon, eastern France, who arrived in the country as an unaccompanied minor, received a deportation order immediately after he turned 18. His outraged employer went on hunger strike in protest, and the order was finally overturned. Now another young Guinean, Yaya Camara, a 19-year-old apprentice electrician also settled in Besançon, has similarly been handed an expulsion order, which he has appealed with the support of his employers and teachers. But a particularly cruel twist in the case is the bizarre and disproven accusations levelled against the teenager by prefecture officials. David Perrotin reports.  

French conservatives reveal their policy programme for 2022 presidential elections

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 © Sebastien Salom-Gomis / AFP © Sebastien Salom-Gomis / AFP

Ahead of next year’s presidential elections, France’s conservative party, Les Républicains, has yet to choose its candidate to stand against a widely expected, although as yet unannounced, re-election bid by Emmanuel Macron. But the party has now published its policy programme. Ilyes Ramdani reports.

Sale of French Rafale jet fighters to India: how a state scandal was buried

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French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian shakes hands with his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar in New Delhi on January 25th 2016 during a joint press conference with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and French president François Hollande. © Prakash Singh / AFP French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian shakes hands with his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar in New Delhi on January 25th 2016 during a joint press conference with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and French president François Hollande. © Prakash Singh / AFP

In 2016 France and India signed a 7.8-billion-euro deal for the purchase of 36 Rafale jet fighters made by French defence group Dassault. Mediapart can reveal that, alongside this controversial deal, Dassault also agreed to pay one million euros to a middleman who is now under investigation in India in connection with another defence deal. The French anti-corruption agency Agence Française Anticorruption (AFA) discovered this separate arrangement during a routine audit of Dassault. The AFA nonetheless decided not to alert the prosecution authorities over the payment. This is the first part of Mediapart's investigation into a state scandal which also raises questions over the both the justice system and the political authorities. Yann Philippin reports.

Anger of the French MPs who turned their back on Macron

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Some of the 30 MPs who have quit Emmanuel Macron's ruling La République en Marche party. © DR Some of the 30 MPs who have quit Emmanuel Macron's ruling La République en Marche party. © DR

Since the Parliamentary elections held in 2017 around 30 Members of Parliament have deserted the ranks of Emmanuel Macron's ruling La République en Marche party. Some have joined other movements, a few have set up their own groups while others simply sit as independents. A year before the next presidential and Parliamentary elections, Mediapart's Ellen Salvi talked to some of these MPs about why they supported Emmanuel Macron in 2017 but are not prepared to do so in 2022.

The inside story of the 'ultra Left' activists arrested in France over alleged terrorism

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The Judicial Court in Paris which is used to try terrorist cases; February 2021. © Jérôme Leblois / Hans Lucas via AFP The Judicial Court in Paris which is used to try terrorist cases; February 2021. © Jérôme Leblois / Hans Lucas via AFP

For the first time in a dozen years France's antiterrorist authorities are investigating an alleged terrorist plot by an 'ultra Left' group. In December nine people were arrested at various locations around France. Seven of them were subsequently placed under formal investigation on suspicion of plotting “violent action” against the forces of law and order. Five of them have been held in custody since then. Mediapart's Camille Polloni has spoken to the families and friends of some of those arrested about what they have gone through. Inevitably this new case brings with it reminders of the long-running 'Tarnac affair' in which after a decade of investigations and legal proceedings a group of left-wing activists accused of terrorist acts against French railway lines eventually saw all those charges dismissed.

The French teachers living in 'daily fear' as number of Covid cases in schools grows

The number of Covid cases found in French schools, week by week. The number of Covid cases found in French schools, week by week.

There has been exponential growth in the number of Covid-19 cases in French schools, both among pupils and staff, and some teaching personnel have become seriously ill as a result. Though the education minister has just announced a further toughening of the health protocols to tackle the virus in schools, some teachers fear the ministry is still “in denial” over the scale of the problem they are facing. One teaching union is now calling on members to take strike action. Ismaël Bine and Caroline Coq-Chodorge report.

How President Macron lost his economic gamble over Covid

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Lost gamble? Economy minister Bruno Le Maire and President Emmanuel Macron. © Yoan VALAT / POOL / AFP Lost gamble? Economy minister Bruno Le Maire and President Emmanuel Macron. © Yoan VALAT / POOL / AFP

President Emmanuel Macron is said to have taken a “gamble” over health restrictions by not locking down France for the third time when the number of Covid-19 cases started rising once more in January. But the head of state has also gambled on the economy too. The French government thought that it could moderate the impact of the epidemic on economic activity through more limited but longer term restrictions. But as Romaric Godin reports, the French “economic resistance” proclaimed by the government could well turn out to be a painful illusion for the country and its public.

How the notion of France's long-cherished 'Republic' has been hijacked

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 © Mediapart © Mediapart

The word 'Republican' has a hugely positive place in the French collective memory. But recently the concept has come to be used – and abused - as a form of political shorthand to tell people to obey the rules. Mediapart's Fabien Escalona talks to French academics about the shifting meaning of the concept and how it is now cited more to protect existing privileges rather than to extend safeguards and rights to new groups.

French paparazzi boss Michèle Marchand faces investigation in police celebrity 'leaks' case

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Illustration featuring, from left, Karine Le Marchand, Michèle Marchand  and Benjamin Griveaux. © Photo Illustration Sébastien Calvet / Mediapart avec AFP Illustration featuring, from left, Karine Le Marchand, Michèle Marchand and Benjamin Griveaux. © Photo Illustration Sébastien Calvet / Mediapart avec AFP

Michèle 'Mimi' Marchand, a powerful figure in the French gossip press and an influential PR fixer to politicians, has already been placed under investigation over the retraction of evidence by businessman Ziad Takieddine, a key witness in the probe into Libyan funding of Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign. Now Marchand, 74, the boss of paparazzi agency Bestimage, has been placed under investigation in relation to a second case, involving allegations of police leaks. It concerns the publication of photos of the arrest of a man over a sex tape affair that ended the hopes of former government spokesperson Benjamin Griveaux of becoming mayor of Paris for Emmanuel Macron's party. Marchand, who denies any wrongdoing, is also being investigated for alleged “extortion” against well-known French television presenter Karine Le Marchand. Fabrice Arfi and Antton Rouget report.

Council funding of Strasbourg mosque provokes row with French interior minister

By Guillaume Krempp and Jean-François Gérard (Rue 89 Strasbourg)
Work began on the Eyüp Sultan mosque in Strasbourg in 2015 and is still continuing. © Guillaume Krempp/Rue89 Strasbourg Work began on the Eyüp Sultan mosque in Strasbourg in 2015 and is still continuing. © Guillaume Krempp/Rue89 Strasbourg

Councillors in Strasbourg have just voted through a 2.5 million euro grant to help build a new mosque in the city in north-east France, a region where unlike the rest of the country the law permits local authorities to fund religious buildings. However, the move by the Green-run council immediately attracted the ire of France's interior minister Gérald Darmanin because the group behind the mosque, Confédération Islamique Milli Görüs (CIMG), is a Franco-Turkish association which has refused to sign the government's new “charter of principles” for Islam in France. The minister, who is championing the government's new law against 'separatism', is now threatening legal action. Report by Guillaume Krempp and Jean-François Gérard of Mediapart's partners in the city, Rue 89 Strasbourg.