Sarkozy met with angry insults
2006-05-19 17:45
Cotonou - Students angry over a proposed French immigration law hurled insults at France's interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy as he visited Benin on Friday.
The tour is widely seen as part of Sarkozy's bid for the 2007 French presidential election.
"Go Home!" shouted some of the 100 protesters, brandishing placards in front of the interior ministry in Cotonou, where Sarkozy met with his counterpart Edgard Alia.
Some protesters called him racist and compared him to Hitler. Others reminded Sarkozy of his own origins, the son of a Hungarian immigrant.
Sarkozy was to meet Benin's President Boni Yayi before giving a speech on France's Africa policy.
He is expected to push for a less paternal French attitude towards its former African colonies.
The high-profile trip has given voice to African frustration over a new immigration bill - sponsored by Sarkozy - that would clamp down on unskilled and uneducated immigrants.
Most immigrants in France are African. The bill passed the lower house of the French parliament on Wednesday.
Sarkozy defended the bill in Mali, his first tour stop, on Thursday. He insisted it was not xenophobic.
His role overseeing immigration policy explained his African tour, a voyage that would normally fall to the president or the French foreign minister.
The countries Sarkozy chose to visit - Mali and Benin - are among the continent's most democratic, apparently reflecting his effort to move away from the close ties President Jacques Chirac has maintained with less peaceful African regimes.
- AP