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Protests of the »Génération identitaire«: The reason for the ban was an action by the group in the Pyrenees
Photo: BERTRAND GUAY / AFP
A good two weeks ago, the French government initiated a ban against the country's best-known identity organization, »Génération identitaire«.
The cabinet has now given its approval.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced in Paris that the government in Paris has dissolved the group.
The right-wing extremist group acts like a "private militia" and calls for "discrimination, hatred and violence," wrote Darmanin on Twitter.
The French identitarians are considered to be the nucleus of similar groups in Germany and other countries.
You are close to Marine Le Pen's right-wing populists.
The interior minister initiated the ban procedure in February.
The reason was an action by the group in the Pyrenees against illegal immigration.
Members of the "Génération Identitaire" tried to prevent refugees from crossing the border from Spain.
The motto of the campaign was »Defend Europe«, like earlier ones in the Alps.
"Génération identitaire" had ties to the Christchurch assassin
The French Ministry of the Interior justifies the dissolution of "Génération identitaire" with connections to the Christchurch assassin, from whom the group is said to have received donations in the past.
The right-wing extremist shot a total of 51 people in attacks on two mosques in the New Zealand city in March 2019 and was later sentenced to life imprisonment.
The head of the right-wing populist party Rassemblement National (formerly Front National), Le Pen, had sharply criticized the planned dissolution of the group.
This is a violation of freedom of expression and the rule of law, she argued.
The identity movement in France emerged in the early 2000s.
Among other things, this resulted in the "Identitarian Movement Germany" (IBD).
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the IBD as a right-wing extremist group.
France's conservative interior minister Darmanin had recently focused primarily on the dissolution of associations that are suspected of having links to Islamism.
But one also has ultra-right and ultra-left groups in mind, he said.
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asc / dpa / AFP
