After the failure of the dissolution of the Earth Uprisings, this is little consolation for Gérald Darmanin. The Council of State approved the dissolution of three other associations on Thursday 9 November: the Coordination against Racism and Islamophobia (CRI); Alvarium, an ultra-right group based in Angers; and GALE (Antifascist Group Lyon and Environs), which the government had dissolved on 20 October 2021, 17 November 2021, and 30 March 2022 respectively. These dissolutions are "justified," said the highest administrative court of France in a statement.
Le GALE
The group, described as a "de facto grouping", is known "for its violent actions, its calls for hatred and its virulent and incessant incitement to attack our security forces", according to the Ministry of the Interior. The latter had therefore pronounced the dissolution of the ultra-left movement on March 30, 2022, which retaliated by referring the matter to the Council of State in the process. The institution suspended the dissolution on 16 May.
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The evidence put forward by the Minister of the Interior does not make it possible to demonstrate that Gale incited violent actions and seriously disturbed public order," the Royal Palace wrote at the time. On Thursday 9 November, the Council of State finally confirmed its dissolution.
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GALE had published images of violence against police officers, accompanied by hateful and abusive texts as well as messages endorsing and justifying serious violence against far-right activists, leading to calls for violence that the group did not attempt to moderate," the Council of State justified this time.
Read alsoThe Council of State examines this Friday the dissolution of an anti-fascist group in Lyon
The Alvarium
This ultra-right group, born in Angers in 2017, is accused of "calling for violence and discrimination". Gérald Darmanin had announced the dissolution of the Alvarium (the "Beehive", in Latin) in November 2021 and pointed to its involvement "in acts of violence" and the spread "since 2018 of a discourse and ideas equating immigration and Islam with threats that the French must fight". "Alvarium fuels overt hate speech" and "incites discrimination or violence against people because of their origin or religion," the dissolution decree said.
On Thursday, the High Administrative Court ruled on its fate by confirming its dissolution. Alvarium "published messages justifying discrimination and hatred against foreigners or French people with an immigrant background by assimilating them to delinquents or criminals, Islamists or terrorists," the Council of State statement said to justify its decision.
The Coordination Against Racism and Islamophobia
The dissolution of the Coordination Against Racism and Islamophobia (CRI) based in the Rhône was announced by Gérald Darmanin on October 20, 2021. The Minister of the Interior justified his decision by explaining that this association "called for hatred, violence and discrimination". Former government spokesman Gabriel Attal, now Minister of National Education, argued that the structure was "at the origin of hate speech and anti-Semitic remarks."
The Council of State finally validated the government's decision on Thursday. In its statement, it said that the association had "published statements tending to impose the idea that the public authorities, or even many political parties and the media, are systematically hostile to Muslims and exploit anti-Semitism to harm them. These publications have provoked numerous hateful, anti-Semitic and insulting comments without the association attempting to contradict or delete them," the Royal Palace said.