In the spring of 2024 reports that Malian-born French singer Aya Nakamura would perform at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics later that summer attracted controversy and opposition. More than a year later, thirteen members of the extreme-right group Les Natifs are set to stand trial in a Paris court over a banner they wrote attacking her planned participation in that ceremony. Among those appearing in court on June 4th is a young woman who, at the time of the banner incident, was a parliamentary assistant to MPs from the far-right Rassemblement National party. Matthieu Suc reports.
On May 22nd the city of Strasbourg in north-east France announced that it was planning to twin with the Aida refugee camp for Palestinians in the West Bank. But this declaration, though it led to criticism of the city's mayor, is not an isolated act. Across France major towns and smaller councils alike are establishing or strengthening partnerships with Palestinians. However, this form of grassroots diplomacy has not gone down well with the Israeli authorities: two delegations of local elected representatives from France were banned from entering the country in April. Clothilde Mraffko reports.
Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National and motoring groups cheered a vote to remove low-emission zones which ban the most polluting vehicles from city centres.
The Mediterranean sea continues to be a watery graveyard for many migrants seeking to reach the shores of Europe. Sometimes large-scale tragedies at sea hit the headlines and occasionally even reach the courts. But often the tragic loss of life in such circumstances receives scant attention. Here Mediapart recounts the story of one such harrowing event which claimed the lives of more than 50 people. In March 2024, an inflatable boat carrying around 80 people drifted for nearly a week in the central Mediterranean. Though spotted several times, no one came to its aid; some have claimed it was “left to die”. In the end, only 24 people survived. Cécile Debarge reports from Italy on its grim journey.
Health minister Catherine Vautrin said in an interview published by the regional newspaper Ouest-France that "tobacco must disappear where there are children".
On May 27th the French Parliament's lower chamber, the National Assembly, voted for a bill that gives the right to assisted dying. The Senate, the upper chamber, still has to vote on the law and that could be a long process. But for reasons of democracy, secularism and the new freedom it creates, we should welcome the MPs' backing for this new right in France, argues Mediapart's co-editor Lénaïg Bredoux in this op-ed article. However, she says that now more than ever we must battle to save our healthcare system, so that neoliberalism and capitalist cost-cutting can never exploit this right in order to choose who among us should exercise it.
Joël Le Scouarnec, 74, has been dubbed France's most prolific paedophile. He is already in jail after being sentenced in 2020 to 15 years for raping and sexually assaulting four children, including two of his nieces.
