• Only the clicking of press cameras disturbed the stillness as Lola’s casket arrived.
• It appears 10 days after her body was found outside her family’s flat.
• The horrible attack raises challenging political issues.

It was the point at which the politicians’ discussion came to an end and went silent.

The entrance of a little white casket into the Lillers church served as a reminder to France of the purpose of the previous ten days of shock and rage.

As the 12-year-old Lola’s body arrived, 10 days after it was discovered with signs of rape and torture outside her family’s flat in Paris, only the clicking of press cameras disturbed the stillness.

The horrible attack—on the most vulnerable of targets—has raised challenging political issues.

After overstaying her visa and disobeying a request to leave France last summer, an Algerian lady, 24, going by the name of Dhabia B, has been accused of raping and killing Lola.

And even before Lola’s body was sent back to her family, she was claimed by anti-immigration zealots in France.

Last week during a far-right event, her visage could be seen bobbing above the crowd on posters, and supporters of virulent nationalist Eric Zemmour had registered internet domains in her name.

Last Monday, Lola’s family urged people to “immediately stop utilizing the name and image of their kid for political objectives,” both in person and online.

However, as one political analyst stated in the daily Le Figaro, “This tragedy is already a big political fact.”

Following the discovery of Lola’s body, a poll for French television indicated that almost six out of ten respondents believed persons residing illegally in France should be placed in administrative detention.

According to political scientist Jean-Yves Camus, political response to this kind of crime is not new, but what is new is that Marine Le Pen’s extreme-right National Rally party now has a sizable bloc of MPs in the National Assembly.

“The [presidential] election was lost by Marine Le Pen, but she might succeed in 2027, Mr. Camus informed me. She actually has a chance of telling the French, “Okay, you tried the conservative right, the mainstream, and they didn’t do anything about it,” if the situation regarding crime and illegal immigrants doesn’t change.”

Last week, Ms. Le Pen questioned lawmakers in the National Assembly, “What are you waiting for, to finally halt this out-of-control illegal immigration?”

Elisabeth Borne, the prime minister of France, responded by advising her to “display a bit of decency,” while another minister charged that the right-wing Republican party in France was “using a 12-year-old girl’s coffin as a [political] stepping-stone.”

The crime, according to President Emmanuel Macron, was “absolute evil,” and he said it was “dizzying” to realize what some people in society were capable of.

But the way his government handles those who do not have permission to stay in France is raising uncomfortable concerns.

Last year, the interior ministry guessed that there are between 600,000 and 700,000 persons living illegally in France. Additionally, according to a Senate investigation, more than 90% of expulsion orders are never carried out.

Government spokesperson Olivier Véran acknowledged, “We certainly have to do better.

Due to the low rate of repatriations, Paris limited the number of visas granted to Algerian citizens by half last year.

President Macron has since been seeking to mend fences with Algiers. While European nations search for Russian gas substitutes, Algeria, Africa’s largest gas provider, has gained new political clout.

Underneath the political discussion, Lola’s friends and family fight to recapture her memories.

Locals in the family’s temporary home in her father’s hometown of Fouquereuil speak of a “atmosphere of mourning.”

One woman said to us, “I’m the mother of a girl her age.” “And I recognize my young kid in [Lolaprofile: ]’s a small gymnast in secondary school, a friend, and full of life. We are undoubtedly impacted.”

However, some of the mourners who visited the Fouquereuil town hall on Friday to sign a book of condolences claimed that they were discreetly debating the subject of political accountability.

Patricia, a pharmaceutical salesperson in Fouquereuil, said, “We have to respect the parents’ wishes not to use this politically.” “But I can also see why taking action is necessary. France needs to change for the better. Although I am quite tolerant and open-minded, there are some things that we simply cannot tolerate.”

Right-wing lawmakers in France contend that a stronger stance toward illegal immigrants is the solution.

They now frame their defenses of preserving France’s economy and culture in terms of preserving one young child.

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