France’s interior minister is seeking to dissolve an “ultra-right” group suspected of attacking anti-racism protesters who entered a campaign rally held by the far-right presidential candidate Éric Zemmour, reports The Guardian.
The Zouaves, who support Zemmour’s anti-immigration and anti-Islam ideology, are thought to be behind the brawl, which happened eight days ago.
Members from the anti-racial discrimination group SOS Racisme were set upon after they entered the rear of the venue to protest against Zemmour. The group said it had aimed to protest peacefully but five of its members were injured.
In one clip taken that night, a man was caught violently punching the head of a young woman who was wearing a “No to racism” T-shirt. Other assailants kicked and threw chairs at protesters. After the meeting, police said they had identified about 50 people linked to the Zouaves who posed for a picture and chanted: “On est chez nous” (this is our home), according to AFP.
On Sunday, the interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said he had begun legal action to have the Zouaves movement outlawed and hoped the State Council would agree to the ban.
“I have initiated the procedure to dissolve this de facto grouping that are the Zouaves, which is a group of people who come from either the GUD [a former far-right student union] or Action Française, that is to say, well-known ultra-right movements,” Darmanin told French media.
Marion Jacquet-Vaillant, a doctor of political science specialising in extreme “identity” groups, said the Zouaves Paris organisation brought together “people from other groups for quick, violent actions”. Some members also belonged to Génération Identitaire, a far-right “paramilitary” group the French government banned in March.
Jean-Yves Camus, a political analyst from the Jean-Jaurès Foundation thinktank, added that the group was “above all, ultra-violent and ultra-right”.