Four police officers suspended in Carcassonne over racist and sexist video

On Tuesday, the daily newspaper Midi Libre revealed a recording made by a police officer's body camera, without his knowledge while on patrol in November 2025.

According to the newspaper, the police officer making the most remarks, was a member of the security team for the National Rally president Jordan Bardella.

The RN said on Wednesday it had removed him from the service and expelled him from the party.

"It is an isolated incident and a purely fabricated affair," said National Rally (RN) vice-president Louis Aliot on French broadcaster Franceinfo on Thursday.

"Ever since Marine Le Pen took the reins of the party, people who have no place here have been systematically shown the door," Aliot added.

“You cannot gauge what people are thinking, any more in the RN than in the Socialist party or the Communist party.”

Carcassonne investigation

The Carcassonne prosecutor's office said in a statement that it was “implementing the measures (...) allowing for the suspension and subsequently the withdrawal of the accreditation of the municipal police officers concerned who do not meet the standards of integrity required for their duties.”

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said on social media on Wednesday that he had ordered an inspection of the Carcassonne municipal police by the General Inspectorate of Administration.

He condemned the officers' racist remarks as unworthy of the municipal police uniform.

According to Midi Libre, the most vocal officer was part of a security detail when Bardella visited Carcassonne on 7 February 2026 to support the mayoral campaign of Christophe Barthès.

During a presss conference on Wednesday, Barthès denounced the officers' remarks as disgusting and inexcusable.

He said he received an administrative investigation into the incident on 19 May.

He added: "The inquiry failed to establish with certainty the identity of the authors of each of the recorded remarks.”

The prosecutor's office said it had not yet received the conclusions of that investigation.

In the video, the officer who is a member of the RN comments after responding to a female resident who had called because she had hit an animal: “No, it might be a migrant, a little Kirikou,” before imitating an African accent: “Kirikou in the savanna (...) he came to France, he gets hit by a vehicle.”

Reactions from politicians

Aurore Bergé, the minister delegate responsible for equality between women and men and combating discrimination, denounced the remarks on French broadcaster RMC as absolutely unacceptable.

“This is what France would look like under an RN government," said Gabriel Attal, the Renaissance candidate for president. "Unrestrained and encouraged hatred,”

Manuel Bompard, national coordinator of La France Insoumise said: “Those who spend their time trying to detoxify the image of the National Rally should open their eyes: nothing has changed in this party, which is infested with racism and fascism."