He drew a parallel between the president of the University of Lille and the Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann. The Minister of Higher Education and Research Sylvie Retailleau announced Sunday on BFMTV that she was going to file a complaint against Jean-Luc Mélenchon for “public insult”. “My ministry will file a complaint for public insult before a public official,” the minister announced on Sunday.
After the cancellation of a conference in mid-April at the University of Lille, the leader of La France insoumise (LFI) drew a parallel between the president of the institution and the person responsible for the logistics of the final solution, Adolf Eichmann. “ I didn’t do anythingsaid Eichmann. I only obeyed the law as it was in my country. So they say that they obey the law and they implement immoral measures which are not justified by anything or anyone,” he declared.
“Risk of trouble”
This conference was canceled due to “demonstrations which were going to take place”, and which presented “a risk of disturbing public order”, explained Sylvie Retailleau on Sunday, adding that “the presidents are there to ensure the safety of all “. Asked by Le Parisien following the cancellation decision, the minister’s entourage had already said they “support” her because the “conditions were no longer met to guarantee the serenity of the debates”.
The founder of France Insoumise had been criticized for these comments. “It is indefensible, what Jean-Luc Mélenchon said, indefensible,” denounced the national secretary of the Communist Party (PCF) Fabien Roussel, believing that the rebellious leader was “discredited.”
Jean-Luc Mélenchon then justified himself by citing “The Origins of Totalitarianism” by the philosopher and political scientist Hannah Arendt, to explain that the president of the university had “behaved in this logic of the propagation of evil”.
