The French interior minister has called for the dissolution of three extreme-right groups after a series of marches were organised in response to the killing of a 16-year-old in the south-east of the country, reports The Guardian.
Gérald Darmanin told France Inter broadcaster he was seeking to shut down Division Martel and two other groups he did not name, warning there was a risk of militias targeting people of different skin-colour.
Thomas, a 16-year-old rugby player, died from stab wounds after a dance party at a village hall in Crépol in the Drôme, in south-eastern France, on 19 November.
Nine people believed to be connected to the incident have been arrested and placed under formal investigation for crimes including murder and attempted murder and some have been remanded in custody.
Even though eight of those arrested were French, and one Italian, and investigators are still working to establish what happened, far-right politicians have argued that Thomas’s death was evidence of a danger from immigrants and minorities who they alleged had come to the village from public housing blocks in a local town.
Amid a mood of growing tension, extreme-right groups have held marches over Thomas’s death.