France moves to ban ultra-right groups in wake of violent protests
France is to dissolve three right-wing extremist groups following violent demonstrations at the weekend connected to the killing of a teenage boy.
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Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin on Tuesday told broadcaster France Inter that the government was targeting a group called Division Martel, along with two others whose names he did not give.
Protests erupted after the 16-year-old, named only as Thomas, was killed during a fight at a party on 19 November. This spurred violent street protests and calls for calm by authorities.
The teenager's death, in the village of Crepol in southeastern France, was seized upon by right-wing politicians and far-right groups who have portrayed the murder as symbolic of increasingly insecure conditions in French society.
'Civil war' fears
"There is a mobilisation within the extreme right that would have us tip into civil war," Darmanin said, adding the police intervention made it possible to "avoid an Irish scenario", in reference to the riots which affected Dublin last week after a knife attack.
Six people were on Monday sentenced to between six and ten months in prison for having participated in ultra-right demonstrations at the weekend in a nearby town.
On Saturday, around 100 extreme-right activists travelled to Romans-sur-Isere on Saturday, a police source said.
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They were looking for a fight with young people from the La Monnaie neighbourhood, where some suspect the perpetrators of the killing lived.
During searches carried out at the suspects' homes, investigators found bladed weapons, brass knuckles, air guns, symbols of small neo-Nazi groups and literature on the Third Reich.
Another far-right gathering in Romans was dispersed by police on Sunday.
A total of around 30 people have been arrested.
Lyon gathering
In a separate development late Monday, eight people were arrested on suspicion of having participated in an undeclared gathering organised by the ultra-right in Lyon.
Videos published on social networks, notably on the Facebook page of the group "Les Remparts", masked individuals are shown holding a banner that says "immigration kills" and shouting "Islam outside Europe".
Les Remparts is a small ultra-right group from Lyon believed to be an extension of Génération Identitaire, a far-right anti-migrant collective disbanded in March 2021.
Darmanin called on police prefects and gendarmers to prevent any gatherings that could lead to violent actions, particularly from ultra-right groups.
An estimated 3,300 people in France belong to far-right movements, of whom 1,300 are on a police watchlist.
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