For “a last tribute” to the little girl, the family met at 1.45 p.m. at the Saint-Omer collegiate church in Lilles, a town of 10,000 inhabitants where her mother is from.
The parents wish “to be able to honor the memory” of Lola “in serenity” and “respect and dignity”, they reaffirmed Sunday evening, for the third time since Thursday.
The mass, celebrated at 2:30 p.m. by the bishop of Arras Mgr Olivier Leborgne, will be open to the public, but the burial in the cemetery “will be done in the strictest privacy”, they added.
“I want Lola’s parents to find the possibility of living again”, said Sunday, on France 3, Mgr Leborgne. “I hope people will be very sober, very discreet, very respectful.”
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and several elected officials are expected, including Pas-de-Calais RN deputy Caroline Parmentier.
The capacity of the church being limited to 500 people, a “sound system” will be installed outside and the square completely emptied of its cars to be able to accommodate “a few thousand people”, a source close to the authorities told AFP. security forces.
– “Thank you all” –
The tragic circumstances of the death of the child, abused, asphyxiated and found on October 14 in a trunk in the courtyard of his building, aroused great emotion in the country.
From the gates of his residence to the mailboxes of the municipalities where his relatives lived, thousands of anonymous people sent their condolences. “Thank you all for your support,” Lola’s mom wrote in a Facebook post shared more than 20,000 times.
Armed with white roses and often wet eyes, dozens of people paraded Friday evening in Fouquereuil (Pas-de-Calais), the father’s hometown, to deposit drawings, poems or a few words in registers arranged by the town hall.
On Sunday, residents lit candles and laid flowers in front of Lola’s building in Paris, on a low wall already covered with hundreds of bouquets and messages. “I can’t go to the funeral” so “I come here to express my solidarity,” Sandra, a resident, told AFP.
“What touches us all? It’s the atrocity of this crime,” President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday, saying that the girl’s family “needs the respect and affection of the nation”.
The profile of the suspect, Dahbia B., Algerian under an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF), has drawn strong criticism from the right and the far right, the government castigating “indecency” of this “political recuperation”.
Among the Republicans, Eric Ciotti slammed “criminal migratory laxity”, before his competitor for the presidency of the party, Bruno Retailleau, announced the imminent filing of a bill to engage “the responsibility of the State” when he “failed in his obligations”.
Eric Zemmour brandished a concept of “francocide”, before participating in a rally on Thursday with Marion Maréchal in particular.
The RN observed a minute of silence in the National Assembly. “We were very dignified”, estimated Sunday evening TF1 the leader of the RN deputies, Marine Le Pen, adding that she was however entitled to ask “answers” from the government.
In several cities, identity groups have also organized rallies.
Government spokesman Olivier Véran, on CNEWS-Europe 1-Les Echos on Sunday, said he was “very shocked” by these demonstrations, in particular the one where “the lieutenants” of Eric Zemmour “rush (have) at the first rank”.
The family had called on Thursday for the various ceremonies to take place “far from political and media unrest”.
They asked again the next day that “urgently cease” any use “of the name and image of their child for political purposes”.
