Jean-Luc Mélenchon sees red and criticized on Friday an “abuse of power” on the part of the prefect of the North who canceled the conference on the Middle East that he was to hold in Lille the day before. The leading figure of La France insoumise demands that the official be “sanctioned”. “We cannot do better than refer to the words of the president or the prime minister. The prefect abused his power and therefore he must be sanctioned for that,” declared Jean-Luc Mélenchon on BFM TV.
The Northern prefecture notably justified its ban by “calls for mobilization launched by several organizations” opposed to the conference, such as the national inter-university union (UNI) or the union of Jewish students of France (UEJF), which could lead to “collisions on public roads”.
Macron wants everyone to “be able to express their voice”
Referring to the cancellation of a conference in Bordeaux in October and another cancellation in Rennes last week, Jean-Luc Mélenchon explained that he had already spoken more than ten times on these subjects. “And no one has ever found anything wrong with the comments I made,” said Thursday Jean-Luc Mélenchon on BFMTV. “We have held conferences which have been authorized, others which have been banned. But out of five bans, three came from the State, that is to say from the prefects. It’s unbearable,” he denounced.
Thursday, after the cancellation by the Northern prefecture of the conference on the Middle East which was to be held in Lille, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron indicated that he wanted everyone “to be able to express their voice”. “I do not share Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s vision of things, neither on the conflict in the Middle East, nor on many things, but I think it is important that he can express his voice,” declared the head of state. “The Republic represses racist and anti-Semitic remarks,” he insisted. “There are judges to judge this”, also to assess “questions of public order”. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal then made similar remarks in the evening.