WORLD : France Proposes Anti-Hate Law

The National Assembly today approved a bill that would bar anyone who provokes racial hatred or violence from holding elected office and government jobs for five years.

The legislation, aimed at the extreme-right National Front Party, was passed by the Assembly 307 to 265 after an all-night debate and now goes to the Senate, where it can be revised before being returned to the lower house.

It must be signed by President Francois Mitterrand to become law.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of the National Front, said the bill was “without precedents in a Western democracy.” Le Pen watched from the public gallery as the sole National Front deputy struggled without success to introduce 80 amendments to block or water down the measure.