Green presidential candidate Eva Joly said she would like to replace the traditional military parade held every July 14 in Paris with a “citizens’ parade.” Her remarks unleashed a storm of criticism, especially on the right.

"/> Green presidential candidate Eva Joly said she would like to replace the traditional military parade held every July 14 in Paris with a “citizens’ parade.” Her remarks unleashed a storm of criticism, especially on the right.

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POLITICS

Joly wants to end Bastille Day military parade

Green presidential candidate Eva Joly said she would like to replace the traditional military parade held every July 14 in Paris with a “citizens’ parade.” Her remarks unleashed a storm of criticism, especially on the right.

Published: 15 July 2011 11:43 CEST
Joly wants to end Bastille Day military parade
Marie-Lan Nguyen

“I have a dream of replacing this parade with a citizens’ parade where we would see school children, college students and seniors filing past, happy to be together and celebrating the values that bind us,” Joly said on Thursday while a column of tanks and other armoured vehicles rolled past Bastille Square.

The Norwegian-born former magistrate who earned a reputation in the 1990s as a tough investigator during the Elf scandal made her remarks in front of a gathering of union groups, politicians and former resistance fighters.

“These are not the values we share. I think the time has come to cancel these July 14 military parades because they belong to another time,“ she added, lambasting what she called “a warlike France.“

The criticism of her remarks was fast and furious. Parliamentarian Jacques Myard, a member of the conservative Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), called the idea of a citizens’ parade ridiculous.

“She forgets that a country is also made up of its army,” he told Europe 1. “They should have the right to be recognized through a parade, which is an important symbol of the link between the people and the armed forces.”

Marc Laffineur, state secretary for veterans’ affairs, said he was “shocked” by Joly’s suggestion, adding that her idea was especially unfortunate just after six French soldiers had been killed in Afghanistan.

“The parade on July 14th pays homage to all the effort and the sacrifices made by our soldiers,” he said.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen of the National Front called Joly’s recommendations “absolutely appalling,“ casting doubt on her “Frenchness“ and the legitimacy of her run for the presidency.

“I don’t think it’s legitimate to run for the presidency of the Republic when one has become French rather belatedly and when, just a few months ago, one was providing advice to the Norwegian government.“

Joly was born Gro Eva Farseth in Oslo in 1943 and came to the France at the age of 20 as an au pair. She married the son of the family that employed her and later became an investigating judge.

Even those on the left side of the political spectrum kept their distance from Joly’s remarks. Martine Aubry and Ségolène Royal, both running in the socialist party primaries, said the military parade tradition should be upheld.

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POLITICS

France’s Uyghurs say Xi visit a ‘slap’ from Macron

Uyghurs in France on Friday said President Emmanuel Macron welcoming his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next week was tantamount to "slapping" them.

Published: 4 May 2024 15:23 CEST
France's Uyghurs say Xi visit a 'slap' from Macron

Xi is due to make a state visit to France on Monday and Tuesday.

Dilnur Reyhan, the founder of the European Uyghur Institute and a French national, said she and others were “angry” the Chinese leader was visiting.

“For the Uyghur people — and in particular for French Uyghurs — it’s a slap from our president, Emmanuel Macron,” she said, describing the Chinese leader as “the executioner of the Uyghur people”.

Beijing stands accused of incarcerating more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in a network of detention facilities across the Xinjiang region.

Campaigners and Uyghurs overseas have said an array of abuses take place inside the facilities, including torture, forced labour, forced sterilisation and political indoctrination.

A UN report last year detailed “credible” evidence of torture, forced medical treatment and sexual or gender-based violence — as well as forced labour — in the region.

But it stopped short of labelling Beijing’s actions a “genocide”, as the United States and some other Western lawmakers have done.

Beijing consistently denies abuses and claims the allegations are part of a deliberate smear campaign to contain its development.

It says it is running vocational training centres in Xinjiang which have helped to combat extremism and enhance development.

Standing beside Reyhan at a press conference in Paris, Gulbahar Haitiwaji, who presented herself as having spent three years in a detention camp, said she was “disappointed”.

“I am asking the president to bring up the issue of the camps with China and to firmly demand they be shut down,” she said.

Human Rights Watch on Friday urged Macron during the visit to “lay out consequences for the Chinese government’s crimes against humanity and deepening repression”.

“Respect for human rights has severely deteriorated under Xi Jinping’s rule,” it said.

“His government has committed crimes against humanity… against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, adopted draconian legislation that has erased Hong Kong’s freedoms, and intensified repression of government critics across the country.”

“President Macron should make it clear to Xi Jinping that Beijing’s crimes against humanity come with consequences for China’s relations with France,” said Maya Wang, acting China director at Human Rights Watch

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