Left-wing French leader summoned by police over Gaza comments

The leader of the largest left-wing faction in the French parliament has been summoned for questioning by police over comments she made on the Gaza conflict.

Mathilde Panot heads the lower house of parliament faction of the France Unbowed (LFI) party, led by former presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon.

The party has taken a pro-Palestinian stance in comparison with other French political parties. They described the 7 October attack by Hamas in southern Israel "an armed offensive by Palestinian forces" that occurred "in a context of intensification of the Israeli occupation policy" in the Palestinian territories.

Melenchon and Panot both hit out at the summons, calling it an attack on freedom of speech.

said it was the first time in the history of modern France that a head of a parliamentary faction "was summoned on such serious grounds".

Panot said she was concenred about the "serious exploitation of justice aimed at suppressing political expression," while Melenchon said it was an "unprecedented event in the history of our democracy", and accused the authorities of "protecting a genocide".