Aljazeera
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Paris mayor calls for black-feminist festival ban
The first edition of the Nyansapo Festival, due to run from July 28 to 30 at a cultural centre in Paris, billed itself as "an event rooted in black feminism", and reserved four-fifths of the festival area for black women, according to its website in French.
Another space would be set aside for black people, regardless of gender, and a third area would be open to all.
Hidalgo, in a Twitter post on Sunday, said she firmly condemned the organisation "of this event, 'prohibited to white people'."
"I am asking for this festival to be banned," Hidalgo said, adding that she also reserved the right "to prosecute the organisers for discrimination".
While some French anti-racist and anti-semitism organisations also condemned the festival, Hidalgo's call for a ban triggered angry reactions from the organisers and some social media users.
They described the call as an attempt to prevent black feminists from organising against and resisting racism in France.
SOS Racisme, an anti-racist movement, described the event as "a mistake, even an abomination" while LICRA, the International League against Racism and Anti-semitism, referring to an American civil rights icon, said: "Rosa Parks would be turning in her grave".
Organisers hit back, with cultural centre La Generale, where the event was to be hosted, and the collective Mwasi, saying they were the "target of a disinformation campaign and of 'fake news' orchestrated by the foulest far right".
"We are saddened to see certain anti-racist associations letting themselves be manipulated like this," according to a statement posted on the Generale website.
Several social media users expressed support for the Mwasi Collective with the hashtag #JeSoutienMwasi.
Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/05/paris-mayor-calls-black-feminist-festival-ban-170529115103624.html
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies
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