French lawmaker accused of racist comment in Parliament

PARIS (AP) — A far-right lawmaker in France has come under criticism after he responded to a Black lawmaker’s question about migrants stranded at sea by apparently saying, “Let them return to Africa.” Gregoire de Fournas of the National Rally party made the comment in the National Assembly on Thursday. He spoke while Carlos Martens Bilongo of the leftist France Unbowed party was challenging the French government over a maritime rescue boat stuck in the Mediterranean Sea without an assigned port. The legislature’s president says the comment will be investigated. A National Rally spokesperson says de Fournas was referring to migrants at sea in his Africa remark and not, as some French media speculated, to his fellow lawmaker.