Hortefeux faces race slur charges

INTERIOR minister Brice Hortefeux faces charges by an anti-racist group alleging racist defamation after his comments to an Arab youth in a video clip.

The executive committee of the anti-racist group MRAP demanded his resignation and said it would pursue him in the criminal courts for his “humiliating remarks against the dignity of people of Arab origin”.

Mr Hortefeux, the former immigration minister, has criticised the media storm over his quip to party worker Amine Benalia-Brouch at a UMP political summit in Seignosse, Landes: “When there's one, that's OK. It's when there are a lot of them that there are problems.”

Speaking during a French Council of Muslims dinner to mark the end of the fast of Ramadan he expressed his regrets, but not over his “joke” – he apologised for the media reaction and the “useless and unfair debate”.

He has insisted he was not talking about Mr Benalia-Brouch’s Arab origins – his father is Algerian – but about his origins from the Auvergne region, an explanation accepted by Mr Benalia-Brouch.

Socialist Party spokesman Benoit Hamon said: “The question is not whether he should resign or not, but what he is still doing in the government?”

After a summer of tensions in French suburbs, the quip is being taken by some as evidence of prejudice towards immigrant communities as Mr Hortefeux is responsible for the police, and known as the Premier Flic.
Photo: Medef