Socialist Karim Bouamrane launches his left-wing movement in Saint-Ouen

The mayor of the city of Seine-Saint-Denis launched “Humane and strong France” in the presence of several figures from the PS, including François Hollande and Olivier Faure.

The socialist Karim Bouamrane launched a new political movement on the left, Thursday October 3, in the town of Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine (Seine-Saint-Denis) which he leads. During a carefully staged meeting at the Bauer stadium, the legendary lair of the Red Star football club, the elected official launched the “Humane and strong France” movement, in front of a few thousand people gathered in the stands, including figures of the Socialist Party. The former President of the Republic François Hollande, now a deputy again, was present, as was the current first secretary of the PS Olivier Faure.

Karim Bouamrane had chosen to sit at the start of the meeting in the stands with Carole Delga, president of the Occitanie region. And after his speech, he was joined on the stadium lawn by Carole Delga and MEP Raphaël Glucksmann. Also present at the meeting was Emmanuel Macron’s former minister, Clément Beaune.

🔴 François Hollande, Carole Delga and Olivier Faure are present at the Bauer stadium for the launch of the movement of Karim Bouamrane, mayor of Saint-Ouen. pic.twitter.com/wnFaIgxdzY

— franceinfo (@franceinfo) October 3, 2024

Karim Bouamrane, 51, notably attacked the speech of the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau, accused of “distill hatred” and“embrace the theses of the RN” : “He explains that France and its welcoming tradition are a problem for our country” And “he equates immigration with insecurity”deplored Karim Bouamrane in his speech, accusing the government of Michel Barnier of being “under the supervision of the RN”. “Should we control migratory flows? Yes… Do we need immigration? Obviously!”he proclaimed.

A former IT executive, Karim Bouamrane was one of the first city councilors of North African origin to take charge of a city of more than 50,000 inhabitants. Mayor since 2020 of Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, vice-president of the department of Seine-Saint-Denis in charge of culture, he especially took the spotlight during the summer thanks to the Olympic Games, his city sheltering the village athletes.

He then spoke a lot in the media, when his name was suddenly slipped among others as Prime Minister, to the great dismay of the NFP united behind Lucie Castets. “Yes, the president should have appointed a Prime Minister from the left, and we on the left should have done everything we could to be responsible, everything”he said again, he who had called on the left to negotiate and accept compromises to form a government.

“We should have broken with the posture of 100% of the program”adopted by Jean-Luc Mélenchon on the evening of the second of the legislative elections. With this posture we achieved 100% of nothing”he insisted, calling on the left to “get out of the grip of a radicalism that divides”.