The leader of the Les Républicains deputies caused a controversy by reacting quickly after the knife attack in Annecy.
“Mass uncontrolled immigration kills”reacted on Twitter Olivier Marleix, less than two hours after learning of the knife attack perpetrated on the shores of Lake Annecy (Haute-Savoie), Thursday, June 8. “The assailant dressed in green, wearing a turban, is believed to be a Syrian asylum seekerthen explains the leader of the LR deputies. Rather than lamenting each new crime, let’s finally put a stop to mass immigration!”
Terrorism at #Annecy : the assailant dressed in green, wearing a turban, would be a Syrian asylum seeker.
Uncontrolled mass immigration kills. Rather than lamenting each new crime, let’s finally put a stop to mass immigration! https://t.co/kNNdTmGAe8
— 🇬🇧 Olivier Marleix (@oliviermarleix) June 8, 2023
The man arrested actually had on him an identity card corresponding to that of a 32-year-old person of Syrian nationality. He had been granted refugee status in Sweden. On the other hand, he was not dressed in green (a color associated with Islam) and had declared himself a Christian in his asylum application file. At the time of the attack, he also wore a Christian cross on him, and said in English the phrase “In the Name of Jesus Christ”.
“The priority is discretion”
Several people criticized the quick reaction of the LR deputy, asking for a period of meditation for the victims before political recovery. “The priority is discretion and all our energy for the victims, the families, and that’s really what we should stick to”reacted on franceinfo the deputy LR of Haute-Savoie Christelle Petex-Levet, who nevertheless belongs to the same party as Olivier Marleix.
“It is indeed the time of emotion (…), but with this emotion, there is anger, as with all our fellow citizens, each time yet another news item comes and attacks the most fragile in our society”, justified the boss of the LR group in the Assembly, questioned a little later on franceinfo.
Olivier Marleix then talks about “same origins of evil” regarding these miscellaneous facts. The MP mentions “an immigration that is now totally out of control, and flows of people that we no longer control at all”. Asked about his mistake about the color of the assailant’s clothes, as well as about the question of welcoming Eastern Christians, MP LR dodges. “The subject today is in the flow, it is in the number, it is in the mass. When you welcome 156,000 asylum seekers, you are unable to know who you are welcoming.”