As protesters massed outside, the spokeswoman for a movement representing immigrants from France’s former colonies went on trial Wednesday for allegedly insulting white French in what may be the first anti-white racism case in France.

The verdict, expected Jan. 25, may turn on a hyphen.

The trial grew out of a legal complaint from a far-right group, the General Alliance Against Racism and Respect for French and Christian Identity, Agrif, against Houria Bouteldja for using a word she invented to refer to white French that she claims was misconstrued. She was charged with “racial injury” and, if convicted, risks up to six months in prison and a maximum euro25,000 ($32,500) fine, though courts usually issue far lighter sentences.

Bouteldja, of the movement Indigenes of the Republic, called native white French “souchiens” in a TV interview. The word derives from “souche,” or stock, as native white French are commonly called, but could sound like a hyphenated word meaning “lower than a dog.”

Bouteldja’s remarks on France-3 television station four years ago caused a clamor in large part because they cut straight to long-simmering issues over inequity between white French and French whose origins are in former North African and African colonies — some of whose families took up arms to help France fight during the world wars.

Her Indigenes movement, now a tiny political party, tries to fight racism and promote equal rights for people with roots in “post-colonial immigration.”

The TV interview and media stories that ensued put Bouteldja’s remarks on center-stage. Brice Hortefeux, serving at the time as immigration and national identity minister, said he was “injured” and “shocked” by what sounded like an insulting play on words but took no action.

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