Minute of silence in the Assembly for Aboubakar Cissé, killed in a mosque

The National Assembly observed a minute of silence on Tuesday, April 29, in memory of Aboubakar Cissé, who was stabbed to death last week in a mosque in the Gard region.

"To his family and loved ones, I would like to express our deepest condolences on behalf of all of us. To all our Muslim compatriots, I would like to express our solidarity," declared the President of the Assembly , Yaël Braun-Pivet , as she opened the weekly session of questions to the government.

She called for "rejecting any political exploitation of this tragedy" , after a clash with the left in the morning over the holding of this minute of silence.

After this moment of silence, observed by all the MPs present, standing in front of their seats, the session quickly became tense. Abdelkader Lahmar, a member of La France Insoumise (La France Insoumise), called for the "dismissal" of Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, criticizing him for holding a campaign rally for the presidency of his party, Les Républicains, after the tragedy and for not having visited the mosque in question.

"If such a crime had been committed in a church or a synagogue, your minister would have been there within the hour and he would have been right to do so. So why this contempt? Why this difference in treatment?" he asked, challenging Prime Minister François Bayrou.

"You are the ones with selective indignation, who are indignant at varying degrees. When three people died in a church in Nice a few years ago, was there a single gathering of the Insoumis?" Bruno Retailleau retorted sharply, to the boos of LFI deputies and the applause of deputies from the National Rally, the right and the centre.

"This murder is a heartbreak, a heartbreak for all French people, a heartbreak for the Republic," then launched the head of Renaissance Gabriel Attal in his own question to François Bayrou, castigating "those who choose communitarianism" , targeting La France Insoumise, and once again provoking strong protests from the left.

"We will not allow the destroyers, those who want to dissolve the world in which we live, to do what they want. Step by step and day after day, we will defend our duty to live together," the Prime Minister responded in a broader statement.