France bans extreme-right and radical Islamic groups ahead of polarizing elections
UNB
Publish: 27 Jun 2024, 08:41 PM
PARIS
(AP) - France's government on Wednesday ordered the dissolution of multiple
extreme right and radical Muslim groups, four days before the first round of
high-stakes legislative elections that may see a surge in support for political
extremes.
Snap national elections
called by pro-business moderate President Emmanuel Macron have plunged the
country into a hasty and disorderly electoral race, in which hate speech is
becoming a growing concern.
Interior Minister Gerald
Darmanin announced Wednesday that the government ordered the shutdown of
several groups peddling extremist hatred. A series of decrees announcing the
shutdown outlined investigations into the groups and said they posed risks of
violence.
The groups affected
include GUD, known for violence and antisemitism. Its members have supported
far-right political leader Marine Le Pen in the past.
Le Pen's National Rally
party is leading all polls ahead of the two-round elections, June 30 and July
7, while Macron's centrist alliance is lagging far behind. However, the outcome
remains highly uncertain due to the complex, two-stage voting system and
potential political alliances.
This is not the first
time the French government has moved to dissolve groups it believes infringe on
security and human rights, but the pre-election timing of Wednesday's
announcement appeared to send a clear message about extremism.
Another targeted group,
called Les Remparts, is accused of inciting hate, discrimination and violence
toward foreigners and non-white people, according to Interior Ministry decrees
reviewed by The Associated Press.
Some members, a decree
said, wear a jacket bearing the inscription "White Division'' and the
group has offered self-defense trainings. The ministry cites a 2023 attack in
which dozens of hooded far-right militants, armed with iron bars, attacked a civil
society group at a conference about Palestinians. Some of the attackers had
ties with Les Remparts, the decree said.
Another decree targeted
a group called Jonas Paris, which it said claims to support France's Muslim
community but instead promotes violence, hate and discrimination toward
non-Muslims, women and LGBTQ+ people.
Antisemitic and
anti-Muslim discourse has also surfaced in the campaign.
Activist group SOS
Racisme announced Wednesday it filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the spread of a
widely shared video that mocks people of African origin and tells them to ''go
home.'' The lawsuit is seeking charges of provocation of racial hatred against
the video's creators.
Noting similar videos
that have appeared in Germany, the group said, ''these expressions of unbridled
racism reflect a climate of the freeing-up of racist speech, fed by the
worrying scores of the far right'' in recent elections around Europe.
Facing the prospect that
France could elect its first far-right government since the Nazi occupation
during World War II, other parties have been scrambling to form alliances and
field candidates. The elections were called by Macron earlier this month after his
party suffered a crushing defeat in the European Parliament election.
In a TV debate Tuesday
night, young and fast-rising National Rally president Jordan Bardella renewed
his proposal to abolish free health care for foreigners and toughen regulations
around acquiring French nationality.
His proposal to prevent
dual citizens from accessing certain "strategic" state jobs in
particular attracted the ire of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who said it
revealed the true objectives of a party that has long been tied to xenophobia
and racism.
"The message you
are sending is that when we are dual citizens, we are half-citizens, we are not
real French people," Attal said.
Attal suggested the real
targets of this measure are not dual citizens with high-level positions, when
he said Bardella's party had a Franco-Russian representative in the European
Parliament.
Bardella has softened
many of the party's hard-line positions, and was put on the spot during the
debate over another key issue, the age of retirement. Macron's raised it last
year from 62 to 64, prompting months of protests that weakened his government.
The National Rally backs
the idea of setting back the retirement age to 62, but Bardella said 42 years
of work would be needed for entitlement to a full pension, de facto raising the
retirement age for those who started working later in their 20s.
Eric Bompard, of the
France Unbowed party, part of a new left-wing coalition, also came after
Bardella's economic program and his proposal to lift taxes for people under 30.
Bompard said the
National Rally's program would contribute to making the rich richer, at the
expense of the poorest 30% share of the population, while Attal accused the
28-year-old Bardella of personally benefiting from the measure.
"Why would a
31-year-old laborer pay taxes, while a 29-year-old consultant or trader would
stop paying?" Attal asked.