The custody of fifteen former members of the ultra-right group Génération Identitaire (GI) has been lifted, the Paris prosecutor's office announced this Thursday.
They are suspected of having illegally reconstituted a new structure, while the group was dissolved in March 2021. “The investigations are still continuing as part of the preliminary investigation”, opened for participation in the maintenance or reconstitution of the group dissolved, said the prosecution, contacted by AFP.
The gendarmes from the Paris research section began their arrests on Tuesday morning, according to a source close to the case.
“Close” objectives of Génération Identitaire
Since the dissolution of GI in the Council of Ministers, several of its former executives were suspected of having regrouped within the Argos association, whose objectives were “close” to Génération Identitaire, according to the source close to the matter.
On its website, the Argos association claims to defend “multi-millennial civilization, mutilated by decades of progressive delusions, forced amnesia and submission to other civilizations.
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“Argos activists were arrested without reason throughout France on the direct orders of Gérald Darmanin this morning,” the association published on its social networks on Tuesday.
⚠️ Argos activists were arrested without reason throughout France on the direct orders of Gérald Darmanin this morning.
🔥 SUPPORT US, share and raise awareness of the situation! #Argos pic.twitter.com/WA4wwSv0qC
— Argos (@Argos_france) March 12, 2024
On Telegram, activists from the ultra-right movement also announced Tuesday that “several patriots from the whistleblower support association (ASLA)”, another structure born from the dissolution of Génération Identitaire, had “been placed in custody ".
“Searchs took place this (Tuesday) morning, at 6:00 a.m., throughout France among those who dared to resist.
(Paris, Lyon, Savoie…)”, affirmed these activists.
Génération identitaire became known through the media coverage of operations against Islam and migrants.
In 2021, the Ministry of the Interior justified the dissolution by explaining that this group promoted in particular "an ideology inciting discrimination against individuals because of their non-belonging to the French nation or calling for hatred, violence against foreign nationals”.