ABSTRACT
The happening took place shortly before Christmas, and it involved some 300 or so Mohammedan workers from Mali, all emigrants from the same village and similarly dressed in their traditional boubou and gandoura. They had been living in a town not far from Paris, Vitry-sur-Seine in the Val-deMame department, since their poste in the neighboring commune of St Mam-had been medically condemned and was to be reconstructed. The mayor of Vitry, Paul Mercieca, happens to be a Communist, and the mayor of St Maur, Jean-Louis Beaumont, turns out to be a friend of President Giscard; and this double piquancy no doubt gave a special sharpness to the nationwide notoriety that both local politicians suddenly enjoyed. The Malis wanted to stay where they were, and did, repairing as much as could be fixed and put into function again, and found themselves in the middle of another great French scandal Against “commando action” of Communist Party the entire Left rallied to protest.
