(AFP) One of the most senior figures in France’s mainstream right-wing party was accused of “crass racism” on Wednesday after claiming that immigrant-origin people who took part in riots over the past week had undergone “a regression to their ethnic roots.”
Bruno Retailleau, who heads the Republicans party in the Senate, was responding to a question about the identities of the people who have burned cars and clashed with police during the country’s worst riots since 2005.
Although many of them were black or of north African origin, sparking calls for tighter curbs on immigration, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told parliament on Tuesday that 90 percent of the people arrested since last Tuesday were French citizens.
