Thirteen people went on trial in France on Wednesday over a “racist” insult targeting Franco-Malian singer Aya Nakamura, who faced criticism from the far right and harassment over her performance at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.<\/p>\n
The defendants, linked to extreme-right group Les Natifs (the Natives), are on trial for a stunt in March 2024 — after \u00a0reports the superstar singer would perform at the Olympics — when they unveiled a banner reading: “No way, Aya, this is Paris, not the Bamako market”.<\/p>\n
It was a reference to Mali’s capital, where the 30-year-old singer was born, and her hit song “Djadja”.<\/p>\n
Nakamura’s performance at the July 2024 opening ceremony sparked a political firestorm among far-right politicians and conservatives, a reaction French President Emmanuel Macron at the time described as “racist” and “shocking”.<\/p>\n
Les Natifs espouses the far-right, white-nationalist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, according to which white Europeans are being deliberately supplanted by non-white immigrants.<\/p>\n
The 13 defendants, aged between 20 and 31, face charges of publicly inciting hatred or violence — or complicity in such incitement — on the grounds of ethnicity, nationality, race or religion.<\/p>\n
Only three appeared in court, while the remaining 10 were represented by their lawyers. Nakamura was not present at the hearing.<\/p>\n
The defendants, including the spokesman for Les Natifs, Stanislas T., refused to answer questions, reading a statement to justify their actions.<\/p>\n
“What is at stake today is the issue of freedom of expression and the independence of the judicial system,” said the 24-year-old spokesman, denying the group had insulted Nakamura or incited hatred.<\/p>\n
According to the activist, the aim was to denounce “a political choice that deliberately sought to promote the dissolution of our ancestral culture”.<\/p>\n
Their lawyers, Mathieu Sassi and Pierre-Vincent Lambert, requested the acquittal of their clients, saying Nakamura had been targeted because of her “vulgarity”.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors requested sentences of up to four months of prison.<\/p>\n
Nakamura responded to the group’s stunt on social media at the time, writing: “You can be racist, but you’re not deaf… and that’s what really bothers you! I’m suddenly the number one topic of debate — but what do I really owe you? Nothing.”<\/p>\n
– ‘Shock public opinion’ –<\/p>\n
Nakamura is the world’s most listened-to Francophone singer, and her performance on one of Paris’s fabled bridges, the Pont des Arts, was among the most-watched moments of the opening ceremony.<\/p>\n
But when reports began circulating in early 2024 that the Mali-born, Paris-raised superstar was going to perform, far-right politicians and groups vehemently criticised the decision.<\/p>\n
An appearance by Nakamura, who mixes French with Arabic and Malian slang, would “humiliate” the country, far-right leader Marine Le Pen suggested, taking aim at her supposed “vulgarity” and “the fact that she doesn’t sing in French”.<\/p>\n
In March 2024, a dozen members of Les Natifs unfurled the banner targeting Nakamura along the River Seine. They posted a picture of the stunt on social media, and far-right outlets amplified the message.<\/p>\n
Les Natifs, which has 10,000 followers on Instagram and 19,000 on X, has staged other provocative stunts.<\/p>\n
In March, the group covered portraits of veiled women on display in a church in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis with black sheets.<\/p>\n
Two people including Stanislas T. were due to appear in court in connection with that case on Thursday.<\/p>\n
In February, the activists plastered an Air Algerie office in Paris with posters encouraging people with Algerian roots to “re-migrate”.<\/p>\n
The goal for groups like Les Natifs is to “provoke massive reactions and shock public opinion so we have no choice but to talk about them”, said Marion Jacquet-Vaillant, an expert on far-right movements in France.<\/p>\n
Capucine C., 22, who until March 2025 was a “parliamentary assistant” to three far-right National Rally MPs, was among the accused appearing in court.<\/p>\n
Nakamura’s complaint is not the only one stemming from the opening ceremony to head to trial.<\/p>\n
A French court in May found seven people guilty of bullying Thomas Jolly, the ceremony’s artistic director, who is openly gay.<\/p>\n
Five people are to stand trial in September over similar complaints from Barbara Butch, a French DJ and lesbian activist who starred in a controversial scene during the ceremony.<\/p>\n
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