A French far-right figure behind a divisive, and hugely successful, crowdfunding campaign for the family of a police officer jailed in the killing of a 17-year-old that triggered riots around France announced on Tuesday that he's closing the account which topped more than 1.5 million euros ($1.63 million), the AP reports. Criticism, and plans for lawsuits, have mounted around Jean Messiha's GoFundMe effort with claims that his real motive was to spread a message of hate and pit the far-right against residents of poor suburbs with a high rate of people of immigrant origin. Even Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has said the collection for the jailed officer's family did not contribute to calming the situation, just like Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti who warned on France-Inter radio against a possible "instrumentalization."
Messiha, meanwhile, hailed in a tweet what he called an "historic symbol of national generosity" while announcing the closing of the crowdfunding campaign at midnight Tuesday for the family of the jailed officer, identified only as Florian M. He said that more than 100,000 donors contributed to the effort he initiated on Friday, equating the response to a "tsunami" in support of law enforcement officers "who in a certain way fight daily so that France remains France."
The crowdfunding had an ugly edge with Messiha bragging at one point that his effort was bringing in more funds than a crowdfunding account set up for the family of Nahel. The family filed a complaint, alleging the crowdfunding was based on deception to "criminalize" the victim and win support for the police officer who fired at him, according to France-Info, which saw the complaint. It wasn't immediately clear whether an investigation would be opened. Socialist lawmaker Arthur Delaporte from Calvados had filed a complaint earlier Tuesday against the crowdfunding contesting its legal grounds—shortly before Messiha closed it. Amid the controversy, GoFundMe had refused to shut down the fundraiser, saying the campaign did not violate any rules as the money was to go to the officer's family, not to his legal defense, the Guardian reports.
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