A racist incident sparked outrage in the French parliament, which suspended its session on Thursday, after an intervention from a deputy from the far-right National Assembly.
Parliamentarians from other groups demanded harsh penalties for MP Grégoire de Fornas.

The incident began when the black representative, Carlos Martins Bilongo, was talking on the podium about a ship carrying refugees stuck in the waters of the Mediterranean, at which point de Fornas shouted: "Let him go back to Africa."

There was an uproar in Parliament and several MPs chanted "Get out", "Get out", and Martins Bilongo described it as a disgrace after the session ended,

He said, "Today I was degraded because of the color of my skin... I was born in France, and I am a French deputy."

After the scandal, the far-right MP spoke of a misunderstanding and claimed that he meant the refugees on the boat and not his fellow parliamentarian, but he has not expressed any apologies so far.

Politicians from other parties strongly condemned the incident.

"Racism has no place in our democracy," Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne said, according to BFMTV.

"What a shame," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted.

Source: agencies