While much of the rallies went smoothly on Wednesday night, several major cities saw attempted violent protests specifically targeting supporters of Morocco.
The left could not let pass. As soon as the confirmation of the arrests of several dozen people belonging to far-right groups and preparing to do battle in Paris, Lyon or Nice with supporters of Morocco, several socialist, ecologist, communist or rebellious leaders denounced “mice”. “We have been told in several places what could be likened to beatings against supporters of the Moroccan team”, deplored the president of the group La France insoumise in the Assembly, Mathilde Panot, “very worried” to see action “with impunity” ces “extreme right groups”. “Where there have been scuffles, they have sometimes been provoked by ultra-right activists”, denounced the national secretary of the PCF, Fabien Roussel, who “welcomed the security forces who were able to thwart upstream” threats.
His environmentalist counterpart, Marine Tondelier, challenged far-right leaders on Twitter: “Say, Eric Zemmour and Jordan Bardella, who for three days had been announcing that it was going to degenerate [mercredi] for France-Morocco, you did not tell us that you were talking about your ultra-right identity allies who were preparing old-fashioned ratonnades…” launched the elected municipal opposition in Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais), land of election of Marine Le Pen. Another new party leader, the rebellious Manuel Bompard accused “RN deputies” having “carefully prepared the ground for recovery, Tuesday, in the hemicycle”. “Their strategy is clear”, insists the deputy of Bouches-du-Rhône: “Trigger civil war to seize power.”
“Feeling of impunity”
In a press release, the ecologists called for a “immediate, strong and concrete reaction from the State and in particular from the Minister of the Interior”. Signed by Tondelier and numerous elected officials from Lyon, including Mayor Grégory Doucet, the text calls for the “withdrawal [des] material and logistical means” of these small groups, the “administrative closure of their establishments”, the «dissolution» and the“opening of an investigation to identify the culprits”. “This event is not isolated: it is the direct consequence of a strong comeback of these fascist groups in Lyon as everywhere in France”, they recall, mentioning the “undeclared demonstration where 200 activists chanted the slogans “immigrant killers” or “immigration kills” in the streets of Lyon”, end of October. They call on the government to “demonstrate the full and complete cooperation of local and national elected officials when it comes to defending our Republic”. Senator EE-LV from the Rhône, Thomas Dossus, went further. According to him, the “feeling of impunity” of these violent militants “is the consequence of the culpable inaction of the State services”.
Tuesday, on the eve of the France-Morocco semi-final, Panot had already launched “a solemn warning” after “assaults” of “extreme right groups” against LFI activists, calling on the government to “take emergency measures”. “I arrested Mr. Darmanin, who said he took it seriously, so I’m waiting to see what will happen,” underlined Thursday the deputy of Val-de-Marne. “I hear a great deafening silence [de] Gerald Darmanin, added his colleague from Seine-Saint-Denis, Clémentine Autain.
Silences by Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella
The Minister of the Interior was indeed slow to react. On Thursday, he stuck to a simple tweet for a long time to thank the police mobilized on Wednesday, without addressing the responsibility of far-right groups. In the evening, Darmanin’s entourage told France Info that Beauvau wanted a “specific monitoring of ultra-right networks for the weekend”. Other silences, those of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, The first has just announced a future defamation complaint against the deputy Louis Boyard. The rebel tweeted that “the election of 89 RN deputies has unleashed far-right violence”. “Darmanin’s policy, which supports their ideas and lets them act, encourages this violence”, he added. A week ago, in Bordeaux, it was one of his meetings that had been the target of a raid by identitarians.
Update at 8:38 p.m.
