Far from the Parisian media hype, Lola’s parents have taken refuge for a few days in Fouquereuil (Pas-de-Calais), where they are from. “They cut their phones, they don’t watch TV. Above all, they don’t want political recovery”, informed the mayor of this municipality to the Parisian (article subscribers). Too late. Since last weekend, the far right and a small part of the right have been agitated around the murder of this 12-year-old girl, a symbol, according to them, of the failure of Emmanuel Macron’s policy. The nationality of the main suspect, Dahbia B., a 24-year-old Algerian, arrested for lack of a residence permit in August, crystallizes the tensions.
>> Murder of Lola: the political recovery of the “far right” is “sordid” and “total indecency”, indignant SOS Racisme
The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, did not fail, on Tuesday, to castigate “the indecency of the people who turn this story into an election leaflet”. But whatever. The figures of Reconquête!, the movement of Eric Zemmour, and the National Rally (RN) strive to demonstrate that the Lola affair is not a simple news item but a “fact of society in its own right”.
The political spiral very quickly began around this particularly sordid murder. Saturday, October 15 in the morning, the media reveal that a schoolgirl was killed the day before in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. His body was found by a homeless man around 11 p.m., curled up in a trunk left in the courtyard of his building. A strong emotion seizes social networks. Several far-right figures expressed their indignation. “The bastards who did this must rot in prison until the end of their days!”tweeted on Saturday morning one of the rising figures of the RN, the deputy and spokesperson for the party, Laure Lavalette.
In the morning, four people were arrested in Bois-Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine), including Dahbia B. Sunday, The Parisian (article subscribers) reports that they were all born in Algeria. From then on, the tone hardened. Many RN deputies are stepping up to the plate, while nothing is yet known about the involvement of these people. “The investigation into the atrocious murder of Lola, 12, is moving towards a gratuitous crime, committed by a group of marginalized people from Algeria”advances in particular the interim president of the RN, Jordan Bardella. “Look closely at the face of Lola, torn from her parents and horribly mutilated and slaughtered by four Algerians”, adds the RN deputy from the North, Bruno Bilde.
Monday afternoon, two of the four in custody are presented to an investigating judge, for an indictment. The others were released without prosecution, said the Paris prosecutor’s office. This does not prevent Alexis Jolly, RN deputy from Isère, from putting a layer on social networks: “Lola was 12 years old, she was French, white and Christian: four Algerians tortured, mutilated, cut her throat and put her in a suitcase.”
As the affair takes on an identity turn, the term “francocide” spreads on the web. Stéphane Ravier and Guillaume Peltier, both members of Reconquête!, use it as a hashtag, which is widely used. This racist neologism was popularized by Eric Zemmour. “The murder, the stabbing of a Frenchman or a French woman by an emigrant, is not a news item (…) It is a political fact that I will now call ‘Francocide'”, he launched in early September during his party’s summer school. The former presidential candidate does not hesitate to use it to qualify the murder of Lola on Twitter: “When will we defend our children against these ‘francocide’ which are always committed by the same people, always to the detriment of the same people?”
“This term had been circulating on Zemmourian social networks already this summer. They jumped at the chance to use it again and try to recover their health by remobilizing their base”, analyzes Nicolas Lebourg, historian and specialist of the extreme right. At the same time, others denounce “the silence of the government”in the words of Sébastien Chenu, RN deputy for the North, or the commemoration, a year ago, of the massacre of Algerians on October 17, 1961. Jordan Bardella takes up a tweet from Emmanuel Macron saluting the Ballon d’Or by Karim Benzema.
Lola. https://t.co/JICuQ5Dsca
—Jordan Bardella (@J_Bardella) October 17, 2022
Monday evening, BFM TV reveals that the main suspect had been under an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF) since August. Enough to put a can of oil on the fire. Anger broke out the next day in the National Assembly, during questions to the government. Marine Le Pen criticizes the executive for wanting “evacuate the subject” in “crying for recovery and attacking with this threadbare argument those who are scandalized by it”. But it is from the right that comes the most virulent attack. “By the laxity of your immigration policy, this child was martyred, raped and killed by an illegal immigrant who was nevertheless the subject of an OQTF”launches Eric Pauget, deputy Les Républicains (LR) of the Alpes-Maritimes, to the applause of the benches of the RN and the boos of the left.
Several LR figures, in the middle of the race for the presidency of the party, seem determined not to leave this subject to the far right. “Lola was also the victim of migratory neglect”declares to Current values (article subscribers) Bruno Retailleau, boss of senators LR. “This criminal migratory laxity revolts me”, adds on Twitter the very right-wing deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes Eric Ciotti, one of the favorites to take the lead of the party.
The subject of the OQTF had already been brought back to the forefront of the political scene last May, with the publication of a Senate report strict on the law on foreigners, which has become “illegible and incomprehensible”. “The rate of execution of the obligations to leave French territory reached a historically low level in the first half of 2021: 5.7%”, included the parliamentary mission. Government spokesman Olivier Véran admitted on Wednesday that the executive should “do better” on the deportation of illegal immigrants.
The pressure on the government is expected to continue to the streets. A rally is scheduled for Thursday, October 20 at 7 p.m. in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, in the presence of several members of Reconquête!. The initiative is led by the Institute for Justice (IPJ), a group that describes itself as a “association of victims of judicial laxity”. Eric Zemmour will be present, as well as other figures of his movement such as Marion Maréchal, Nicolas Bay and Stanislas Rigault. Florian Philippot and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan will also make the trip.
For his part, the RN was very undecided. While a “large delegation of around twenty deputies” was announced Wednesday morning, according to information from franceinfo, the party finally retracted in the afternoon, preferring to organize a minute of silence at 6.30 p.m., place du Palais-Bourbon. Officially it is “respect the pain of the family who does not want a white march”, justified RN spokesman Philippe Ballard. Unofficially, party executives confide to franceinfo that they do not want “show off with the madmen of Reconquest!”.
In the camp opposite, we assume. “Family [de Lola] does not seem to have expressed any hostility towards us. We cannot not react in the face of such a tragedy”, slips a close friend of Eric Zemmour. The party of the disappointed presidential candidate went so far as to acquire domain names “manifpourlola.fr” and “justicepourlola.fr”, as confirmed to franceinfo by a member of the party. “We won’t necessarily use them right away, but they could be used for other gatherings, in the name of Reconquest!”he says.
At the same time, a petition was massively relayed by Samuel Lafont, head of digital at Reconquête!, via the Damoclès site, which he himself founded. HASAccompanied by the hashtag #ManifPourLola, the petition has collected nearly 40,000 signatures – so many emails that the party can use to hunt potential recruits.
Beyond Reconquest!, it is a whole part of the identity sphere that has been mobilizing for a few days. The Nemesis collective, which brings together far-right activists, has managed to widely circulate a visual showing the face of Lola. It was notably taken over by Damien Rieu, who now uses it as a profile photo.
On his side, Current Values chose to put the teenager’s face on one of its Thursday editions, captioning: “The Slaughter of the Innocents”. The website of “reinformation” Boulevard Voltaire has posted a video featuring one of his reporters, which lists in detail the torture inflicted on the young victim. He too calls to go to the demonstration on Thursday.