The divisive fundraising campaign in support of the policeman who killed teenager Nahel a week ago in Nanterre, France was closed on Tuesday evening.
Its creator, far-right figure and former spokesperson for Eric Zemmour, Jean Messiha, announced on Twitter. The fundraising campaign, which raised €1.5 million, will be "closed tonight at midnight," he says in a video posted on the social network.
Described as a "fund of shame", the money donated to the GoFundMe page was aimed at "helping" the policeman’s family, but it was an unexpected success among far-right circles.
Before Jean Messiha announced its closure, MPs Mathilde Panot (La France Insoumise – LSI) and Arthur Delaporte (Socialist Party – PS) had announced that they were taking the matter to court.
"This fund could be considered illegal" and "must be closed", said MP Arthur Delaporte, announcing that he would refer the matter to the Paris Public Prosecutor, Laure Beccuau.
"This fund is an insult to Nahel’s relatives," said Mathilde Panot, leader of the LFI MPs in the French National Assembly.
The family filed a complaint stating it amounted to deception in order to “criminalise” the victim, according to France-Info, which saw the complaint.
Implicit support
"Support for the family of the Nanterre police officer, Florian M., who did his job and is today paying a heavy price," says the text of the fundraising page.
"It’s an approach that I hear, that I understand, that doesn’t seem to me to be contrary to our principles. Quite the contrary, that we should support the family of a policeman who is also going through an ordeal today, that doesn’t seem shocking to me," the leader of the Les Républicains (LR) party, Eric Ciotti, said on Monday – without ruling out that he could contribute to it himself.
On the government side, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne and her Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin felt that it was up to the courts to rule on its legality.
