Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Paris on Saturday, February 20 in support of the far-right group, Génération Identitaire.
At the same time, a kilometer away, anti-fascist activists gathered at the call of the Union Syndicale Solidaires Paris in particular to organize a “social anti-fascist response”.
A counter-demonstration banned by the police headquarters because it was declared "out of time".
"It is scandalous to have banned a poor peaceful gathering like ours, there are more police forces than demonstrators while there the neo-Nazis are quietly demonstrating," one protester said indignantly.
Clashes between anti-fascist activists and demonstrators erupted a little later on the sidelines of the demonstration.
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The Generation Identity movement manifests against its dissolution in Paris, some tensions with anti-fascists
Génération Identitaire is subject to a dissolution procedure announced last week by the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin.
A decision taken following an anti-migrant operation carried out in the Pyrenees.
"That, I say it clearly, is to put your finger in an extremely dangerous gear, if Identity Generation is dissolved, tomorrow any opposition movement can be dissolved at the whim of power.
It's extremely problematic, it's called tyranny, ”said Florian Philippot, president of the Patriots, present in the procession of demonstrators.