One dissolution can hide another.
In an interview granted to the Sunday newspaper on April 2, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin announced the launch of a dissolution procedure against the Rennes ultra-left movement Defense Collective (Defco).
"
We have identified a movement in Rennes called Defco, which is calling for an uprising"
, justified the Minister of the Interior, when asked about the dissolution of the "Earth Uprisings" movement which he accused of being at the origin of the "violent actions" of March 25 in Sainte-Soline.
The Rennes branch of Defense Collective tells Le
Figaro
"
not to have discussed internally
" Gérald Darmanin's announcements and not to have yet adopted a common response.
Gérald Darmanin had already been alerted to this movement last October by the RN deputy for Moselle, Laurent Jacobelli, during a session of questions to the government.
“The ultra-left movement is very present and very active in the west of France and in particular in Rennes.
This is particularly the case with the de facto group “Defco”, at the origin of the unrest which took place in Bruz on
September 25
, 2022”
, had detailed the Minister of the Interior in his response addressed to the deputy RN.
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In September in Bruz (Ille-et-Vilaine), the visit of the president of the National Rally Jordan Bardella had been disrupted by 200 ultra-left demonstrators, among whom members of Defco were potentially found, still according to the Minister of the Interior.
Appeared in 2016
Created in 2016 before the disputes linked to the
labor law
, the Defense Collective movement presents itself on its social networks as an "
open, public and autonomous group
"
,
fighting "
for the defense of the social movement in the face of repression
" in Rennes
.
“The Collective Defense project was built on past militant experiences”
, notably launches the collective on its site, adding that it has “
assumed critical political positions on the role of the police and justice
”
.
Its stated objective is to
“support people confronted with police and judicial repression, but also to act upstream through its action in the street and through the experience gained from repression”.
Clearly, it is a legal aid group assisting and advising protesters and standing against
“police violence
”.
Defco also organizes training in Rennes “
concerning anti-repression
” in the
“legal”
fields ,
“collective movement”
and
“digital defense”.
Similarly, this collective shares sheets explaining how
to "prepare for demonstrations"
or "
prepare for a trial
“, always with a clear desire to provide legal advice “
upstream
” of the demonstrations.
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Its main branch is based in Rennes.
More than 4000 people are subscribed to his Instagram account and follow his Facebook page.
On Twitter, Défense Collective has nearly 2,500 subscribers.
There are also Defense Collective Facebook pages in Marseille, Paris and Toulouse, but all three are inactive today.
Calls for “uprising”
According to Gérald Darmanin, Défense Collective "
calls for an uprising
", particularly in the context of the mobilization against the pension reform, in which this collective seems particularly involved.
In a press release published on Facebook on March 20, its Rennes branch denounced "
cops [who] arrest demonstrators at random
" and "
judges [who] also place them in detention at random
" while tackling "
the debacle of the device de police
”, following the day of mobilization against the pension reform of March 15 in Rennes.
According to France 3 Bretagne, Défense Collective does not have the status of an association and therefore has no real legal existence.
Contacted on this specific point, the prefecture of Ille-et-Vilaine did not respond to our requests.
The site of the Official Journal - which allows to consult certain information on the declared associations - does not however mention an association named "Collective Defense" officially registered in the prefecture of Ille-et-Vilaine.
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According to the internal security code, this type of grouping can in particular be dissolved by decree if it is proven that its action provokes "
armed demonstrations or violent acts against persons or property
", "
tends to undermine the integrity of the national territory or to attack by force the republican form of government
" or "
tends to defeat the measures concerning the restoration of republican legality
".