Daisy Duveau, the new RN mayor of Grenay in Pas-de-Calais, has removed a commemorative plaque honoring Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a Lebanese militant convicted of terrorism and released last summer. This decision, one of her first acts, aims to restore the town's dignity, according to the mayor. RN deputy Bruno Bilde praised the move.
Daisy Duveau, the newly elected RN mayor of Grenay in Pas-de-Calais, ordered the removal of a plaque commemorating Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. The Lebanese communist militant, a member of the Fractions armées révolutionnaires libanaises (FARL), was sentenced to life in 1987 for complicity in the murders of US diplomat Charles Ray and Israeli Yacov Barsimentov. He was released in July last year after nearly 40 years in prison and expelled to Lebanon.
The previous communist mayor, Christelle Lelieux-Buissette, had named him an honorary citizen, leading to the plaque. Duveau stated that the removal allows Grenay to regain «its dignity, its honor, and its French pride».
RN deputy Bruno Bilde from Pas-de-Calais took part in the action and posted on Facebook: «Making a terrorist convicted by French justice a figure to celebrate was a shame, a moral fault, and an insult to the victims' memory». He had campaigned for this for two years, contacting the Interior Minister and the prefect in March 2024.
Abdallah's release had sparked division: Mathilde Panot expressed «immense relief», while Jordan Bardella reacted with «nausea» over a «terrorist who has never expressed the slightest regret».
