French MP suspended for 15 days after racist comment

Carlos Martens Bilongo speaks during a rally on Friday (Thibault Camus/AP)

A French far-right MP has been suspended from the country’s parliament for 15 days, the maximum penalty, after he made a racist remark during a legislative session, which prompted condemnation from across the political spectrum.

Gregoire de Fournas of the far-right National Rally party, was heard shouting the words “return to Africa” at his fellow MP as Carlos Martens Bilongo, who is black, was challenging the French government on Thursday about migrants stranded at sea.