French Far-Left MP Staffers Attack Right-wing Journalists in National Assembly
10th April 2025
The French National Assembly has just been the scene of a serious altercation between staffers of the far-left party La France insoumise (LFI) and the right-wing investigative media outlet Frontières, in which the staffers resorted to violence as they tried to remove the reporters from the premises. On Wednesday, April 9th, parliamentary staffers from the far-left LFI party gathered at the National Assembly in protest against the publication of a major feature by the conservative magazine Frontières entitled “LFI: le parti de l’étranger” (LFI: the party of the foreigner), which highlights the party’s links with Hamas and Islamist lobbies.
Three Frontières journalists went to the site to cover the protest. When identified by the LFI protesters, tempers quickly flared and the journalists were physically attacked by parliamentary staff. Videos have since been circulating on X that show the aggression towards the three journalists—one of whom was a woman—with the involvement from Raphaël Arnault, an LFI MP who, by the way, has been placed on a watchlist by the French police as a possible national security threat..
The President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, issued a press release—placing almost all the responsibility for the violence on Frontières. The statement said nothing to condemn the actions of LFI as a blatant attack on press freedom. “Any action that could be considered as a stunt or provocation of any kind will not be tolerated. Failure to comply with these rules may result in restrictions on access to the Assembly and withdrawal of accreditation. The President of the National Assembly will ensure, in a firm and balanced manner, that they are respected. She will reiterate this in a letter to the media outlet Frontières”, the statement read.