Tensions Erupt in French Parliament Over CCIE Invitation

On 12 March 2025, Le Figaro report­ed that a French par­lia­men­tary round­table event against Islam­o­pho­bia had turned heat­ed when nation­al­ist MPs clashed with far-left deputies over the invi­ta­tion of CCIE, suc­ces­sor to an Islamist influ­ence oper­a­tion that the French gov­ern­ment had banned in 2020. The arti­cle begins:

“Allez, cassez-vous les fas­cistes, au revoir les racistes ! Dis­parais­sez !” The LFI deputy Raphaël Arnault did not hide his frus­tra­tion. It was just past 3:30 PM on Wednes­day at the Palais Bour­bon. The scene unfold­ed at the entrance of a small meet­ing room with­in the Nation­al Assem­bly. Led by MP Hanane Man­souri, sev­er­al mem­bers of the Union des Droites pour la République (UDR) and the Rassem­ble­ment Nation­al (RN) arrived. Among them were Charles Allon­cle (UDR), Bar­tolomé Lenoir (UDR), Julien Odoul (RN), and Manon Bouquin (RN). On the oth­er side of the door stood Arnault and oth­er LFI mem­bers, along with sev­er­al activist groups. The nation­al­ist MPs dis­rupt­ed a round­table dis­cus­sion orga­nized by the left-wing LFI deputies. Their inten­tion, accord­ing to Hanane Man­souri, was to deliv­er the offi­cial dis­so­lu­tion notice of the Col­lec­tif con­tre l’Islamophobie en France (CCIF), which had been banned in 2020. Ini­tial­ly calm, Arnault became vis­i­bly angry, exchang­ing tense words with Charles Allon­cle. Secu­ri­ty offi­cers inter­vened, ask­ing the nation­al­ist MPs to leave. The meet­ing had been autho­rized by Assem­bly Pres­i­dent Yaël Braun-Pivet, who stat­ed that it could pro­ceed as long as it adhered to par­lia­men­tary deco­rum… [Trans­lat­ed from French original.]

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Key Points:

• A round­table on Islam­o­pho­bia at the French Nation­al Assem­bly was dis­rupt­ed by nation­al­ist MPs, lead­ing to a heat­ed confrontation.
• The meet­ing fea­tured the Bel­gian-based CCIE, seen as a suc­ces­sor to the banned CCIF, spark­ing polit­i­cal controversy.
• The Assembly’s pres­i­dent allowed the event but warned against asso­ci­a­tions con­tra­dict­ing repub­li­can values.
• Nation­al­ist MPs con­demned the invi­ta­tion as a plat­form for “Islamist orga­ni­za­tions” and vowed fur­ther opposition.