Paris to ban only black feminist event

The mayor of Paris has strongly criticised and is threatening to cancel an upcoming festival for black feminists where four-fifths of the event space will be open exclusively to black women.

Rights groups have branded the event a step backward on race issues. In a series of angry tweets on Monday, Mayor Anne Hidalgo said she would call on authorities to prohibit the three-day cultural festival scheduled for July.

Ms Hidalgo said she might call for the prosecution of its organisers on grounds of discrimination. “I firmly condemn the organisation of this event in Paris (that’s) ‘forbidden to white people,’” Ms Hidalgo wrote.

The programme for the first annual Nyansapo Festival, which is set to run July 28-30 at a Paris cultural center, states that 80 per cent of the event space only will be accessible to black women. Other sections will be open to black men and “racialised women,” and one smaller space will be open to everyone.