France, March 8 -- France's National Assembly has rejected a bill to ban politicians found guilty of "aggravated domestic violence" from working as MPs. The vote followed a tense debate in parliament during which the Justice Minister twice raised his fist in an obscene gesture at the opposition.

The draft law was presented on the eve of International Women's Day by Aurore Berge, the leader of President Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance parliamentary group.

It follows the return to parliament of MP Adrien Quatennens, from the hard-left France Unbowed party, who received a four-month suspended prison sentence for domestic abuse against his partner in December.

Berge's bill targeted MPs found to have perpetrated attacks of aggravated violence...