Twenty activists from Génération Identitaire, an association now dissolved, will be retried on appeal Monday, January 10 in Paris, after being sentenced in March 2020 to suspended prison sentences for having occupied the roof of the Bobigny CAF.
To read also Identity generation dissolved: "Such a decision always has a political character"
On March 29, 2019, early in the morning, 17 men and two women, activists of the far-right association aged 18 to 33, climbed the building of the family allowance fund (CAF) of Bobigny, in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris. The members of the small group, a follower of punching actions filmed and widely disseminated on social networks, unfurl a banner with the slogan “Money for the French”. Not for foreigners. ”
In the images, we can see a predominantly male group, fists raised, smoke bombs lit, chanting
"Stop, stop, stop immigration"
. After several hours on the roof, the 19 activists were dislodged by the police. The establishment must have been closed to the public. All had to explain it to justice. They were initially prosecuted for obstructing freedom to work, but the offense had been reclassified as a “home invasion”.
At the end of two days of hearing at the Bobigny Criminal Court, they were sentenced on March 13, 2020 to terms ranging from one to three months in prison.
They also had to pay jointly and severally 2,000 euros in damages for the moral prejudice suffered by the CAF of Seine-Saint-Denis.
They appealed against their conviction.
"Serene" and "confident" activists
During the trial at first instance, one of the defendants justified the action by wanting to
“catch the eyes of the French”
.
The movement had affirmed:
"By this symbolic action, Identity Generation calls for the abolition of all social assistance to non-European foreigners".
Two years after their coup in Bobigny, followed by several actions, particularly anti-migrants in the Pyrenees, the government decreed in March 2021 the dissolution of the association, accused of "inciting discrimination, hatred and violence ”and to have a“ willingness to act as a private militia ”.
The activists approach this new hearing
"serenely"
and
"relatively confident"
, assured AFP their lawyer, Me Pierre-Vincent Lambert, who
"hopes for an outright release"
.
The hearing will be held at 1:30 p.m. at the Paris Court of Appeal.
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