2023-05-08 13:19:59
Hooded, holding black flags adorned with Celtic crosses, hundreds of ultra-right activists marched this Saturday in Paris. We take stock of this controversial gathering.
What was this manifestation?
Every year, around May 9, activists from neo-fascist groups gather in memory of the young activist Sébastien Deyzieu, close to the former GUD. He died accidentally on May 9, 1994 while trying to flee from the police. The young man, aged 22, had slipped from a roof rue des Chartreux (in the 6th arrondissement of Paris) during a demonstration “against American imperialism”, which had been banned by the police headquarters. At the time, about 400 people had gathered at the call of the far-right groups “Union of Assas Students” and “Revolutionary Nationalist Youth”.
This Saturday in Paris, the parade had as its point of arrival the rue des Chartreux, where a wreath was laid. The procession advanced behind the black banner “Sebastien present”, in his honor.
Who participated?
The Paris police headquarters estimates that there were around 550 protesters. According to our information, the phenomenon is new: “Usually, they are much less and the demonstration remains Ile-de-France. This time, many people came from the provinces”, specifies a source close to the file, for whom this kind of event allows “to collect information”.
Among them, Mediapart identified Axel Loustau and Olivier Duguet, the two former treasurers of Jeanne, the micro-party of Marine Le Pen. Members of the GUD (Groupe Union Défense, which was self-dissolved and which has just been reconstituted), of the former Zouaves Paris and of the Martel group were present, according to this same source.
These demonstrators, dressed in black and often masked, exhibited black flags marked with the Celtic cross and red smoke bombs. The procession was mostly made up of young men.
They remained silent, except to proclaim “Europe youth revolution”, the slogan of the GUD. They refused to answer questions from AFP, in an atmosphere of hostility towards the press.
Why is it controversial?
The Paris police chief authorized the demonstration. On social networks, the left denounced the “tacit complicity” of the government.
“Under the hood or the mask of respectability, the extreme right remains the extreme right. The only change is the tacit complicity from which it benefits from those who have decided to confront the left as a priority”, thus criticizes Olivier Faure, first secretary of the Socialist Party.
Isabelle Rocca, deputy (socialist) at the town hall of the 12th arrondissement of Paris, goes so far as to demand the resignation of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin. “A neofascist demonstration authorized in the streets of Paris, this deserves an explanation, even resignation”, she said on Twitter.
Sarah Durocher, president of Family Planning, also challenges Gérald Darmanin, moved that such an event can be authorized. “A neo-fascist demonstration authorized and protected this Saturday in Paris? ! As a reminder, feminists or associations such as Family Planning are the regular targets of attacks by these movements. By authorizing this, what message should we hear? »
Editor Johan Faerber castigated “the macronist logic of the at the same times”, which aims to “authorize and protect a neo-fascist demonstration on Saturday in Paris”, and to “celebrate the memory of Jean Moulin on Monday in Lyon. How not to see in it a dangerous and culpable moral renunciation? “, he asks.
Why was the gathering allowed?
Faced with criticism, the police headquarters justified itself on Monday: “In France, a demonstration can only be prohibited in the event of a proven risk of disturbance to public order, she explains in a press release. Last January, the decree prohibiting a demonstration of the ultra-right in Paris had been suspended by the administrative judge. »
However, “to the extent that this manifestation (in tribute to Sébastien Deyzieu) had not caused, in previous years, any overflow or disturbance to public order, the prefect of police was not justified in issuing a prohibition order against him, ”argues the prefecture. In addition, Saturday’s demonstration was also uneventful. According to our information, the police did not observe anything reprehensible.
The prefect of Paris, Laurent Nuñez, recalls that he is “fully committed”, with the intelligence services, “in the fight against all phenomena of violent subversion”. In January 2022, the very violent ultra-right group “Les Zouaves Paris” had been dissolvedunderlines the press release.
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