"This demonstration has taken place every year since the 1990s," begins Nicolas Lebourg, a historian and specialist on the far right. Every year, activists from neo-fascist groups gather in memory of Sébastien Deyzieu. This young activist, close to the GUD, died accidentally on 9 May 1994 when he slipped from a roof while trying to escape the police.
See alsoBlack hoods, Celtic crosses... what we know about the ultra-right demonstration in Paris this weekend
"This date has a big advantage," says Nicolas Lebourg. It's early May, it allows us to have an event that is different from that of the feast of Joan of Arc of the Action Française or the parade of the National Front. It allows right-wing radicalism to have its counter-demonstration right next to May 8, the defeat of Nazism and Joan of Arc Day."
The slogan "Europe, youth, revolution" came out of the procession and broke the silence of this march that crossed several districts of the capital. "An Italian neo-fascist slogan from the 1960s imported in France by "For a young Europe". A small group that had a lot of tenderness for Hitler, "recalls ironically the specialist of far-right movements.
"In the pictures, you see a lot of Celtic cross flags. It is the majority symbol in the radicalism of the French right, since 1948. With the idea of representing itself in relation to the GUD (Union Defence Group, which had dissolved itself and has just been reconstituted). The GUD is their legend, it is something that is unifying, everyone can find themselves in these ranks, under the flag with Celtic cross". Watch our video at the top of the article.
