Le Figaro Nantes
These would not be the first tags of their kind on the city's campuses.
The University of Nantes announced on Tuesday that it had filed a complaint after the discovery of neo-Nazi anti-Semitic inscriptions on one of its buildings.
Facts that the prefect of Loire-Atlantique indicates having reported to the courts.
“Anti-Semitic tags were observed on the Tertre campus.
Nantes University strongly condemns these incitements to hatred and anti-Semitism.
Faced with such actions, Nantes University filed a complaint for damage to public property and incitement to hatred
,” the university said in a press release sent to AFP.
For his part, the prefect of the department indicated on X that he
“strongly condemns these anti-Semitic acts calling for hatred”
.
“He immediately made a report to the public prosecutor on the basis of article 40 of the code of criminal procedure
,” adds the prefecture.
Nantes political leaders unanimously condemned the presence of tags on the university campus.
“Anti-Semitism has no place in Nantes, it is a scourge that we must fight forcefully
,” reacted the mayor of Nantes, Johanna Rolland (PS).
“Support for the staff and students of the University of Nantes affected by these hateful tags
,” also affirmed Senator Les Républicains and leader of the opposition, Laurence Garnier.
Anti-Semitic, Nazi and “anti-antifa” inscriptions
According to images distributed by student unions and the local press, these anti-Semitic inscriptions include at least one swastika, associated with a cross of Lorraine, a symbol of Nazi ideology associated with that of the Resistance and free France.
The graffiti announcing a
“fascist victory”
are notably associated with Celtic crosses, typical of the imagery of many ultranationalist and identity-based far-right movements.
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Some of the tags also target the Nantes anti-fascist community.
“We have been warning for months about the fascist threat in our universities.
Yesterday in Chambéry, today in Nantes, we found Nazi posters and tags, some threatening our comrades
,” the union federation L'Union Studente, close to the left and the radical left.
The leaders of French universities and grandes écoles say they have recorded
“67 anti-Semitic acts”
within their establishments since the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, according to the France Universities association.
The inscriptions found Tuesday on the Nantes campus do not seem to refer to this attack or to the ongoing conflict in Gaza, between Israel and Hamas.
“In view of the dramatic humanitarian situation in Gaza”
, the Nantes town hall made the choice, in March, to leave the Palestinian flags painted on several staircases in the city as they are.