Amnesty warns of ‘worrying’ racism before France president vote

PARIS: Rights group Amnesty International warned Tuesday of “worrying” public racist comments and challenges to the rule of law in the run-up to France’s presidential election next year.
The far-right National Rally (RN) party is eyeing its best chance yet at taking power in the vote, with President Emmanuel Macron stepping down after hitting the two-term limit.
“The virulence of the political and media debate, particularly the racist attacks and the abuse directed at the rule of law, are extremely worrying warning signs for the coming pre-election year,” Amnesty International France’s director Anne Savinel-Barras said.
The campaign group’s warning came after a far-right hate campaign targeted Bally Bagayoko, the black mayor of Paris’s largest suburb, Saint-Denis, after he was elected last month.
The hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party earlier this month also said several of its black lawmakers, including a deputy speaker in parliament, had received a racist letter.
And the anti-immigration RN last year railed against a supposed “tyranny of judges” after a court barred three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen from public office over a fake jobs scam at the European parliament.
The judge in that case received at least one death threat.
Another judge was threatened last year after she sentenced conservative ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy to serve time behind bars over a scheme to acquire Libyan funding for his successful 2007 election campaign.
A verdict in Le Pen’s appeals trial is expected in July. Her 30-year-old lieutenant Jordan Bardella is expected to run in her place if the ban is upheld.

Amnesty warns of ‘worrying’ racism before France president vote