MP Joris Hébrard inaugurates a mosque in Vaucluse, Marine Le Pen “very clearly disapproves”

“It’s a personal initiative that I very clearly disapprove of”, declared Marine Le Pen, this Wednesday during a press conference in reaction to the inauguration by the deputy National Rally (RN) Joris Hébrard of a mosque in Pontet, near Avignon, on March 17. This is the mosque of the Franco-Turkish Cultural Association of Avignon.

Will he be punished? “We will see, we will discuss it”first replied the president of the RN group to the National Assembly. “You know, it’s a bit like with the tax authorities, there’s room for error, but it’s once, I think”, she then added, seeming to rule out the possibility of a sanction. Whatever happens, the subject will be discussed in a group meeting on Tuesday March 28, an RN executive told France Inter.

Contacted by France Inter, the entourage of the deputy minimizes. He doesn’t see “no ideological problem”. He simply argues that “The Turkish community is very established, very present” locally and that the elected RN the “know well”. Moreover, if Joris Hébrard was mayor of Pontet until 2022, his entourage ensures that “it was the previous UMP mayor who gave the building permit and sold the land” to build this mosque.

“I was not aware at all”, also declared Marine Le Pen. On the other hand, this inauguration did not escape Eric Zemmour’s party, Reconquest. In a press release, its Vaucluse section requests the exclusion of Joris Hébrard from the RN.