They did not go unnoticed. Dark clothes, hoods on their heads for the most part and arms raised, around 200 neo-Nazis met, at the call of the Identity Generation group – yet dissolved in March 2021 – to honor Saint Geneviève, saint of Paris, reports freelance journalist Daphné Deschamps. A banner “freedoms are not granted, they are taken” was notably deployed at the head of the procession.
During this parade, some members identified as part of the Zouaves, another far-right group dissolved in particular after the attack on members of SOS Racisme during Eric Zemmour’s meeting in Villepinte, burned a European flag with smoke bombs.
The procession then converged in the direction of rue la montagne Sainte-Geneviève to honor the “Parisian pride march”, a march that has nothing to do with the one traditionally organized by the LGBT community, since this one has was carried out by some members of the Civitas group, which defines itself on its Twitter account as “Political movement inspired by natural law and the social doctrine of the Catholic Church“. Slogans such as “we are at home” and “popular Paris, identity Paris” were chanted.
An AFP team attacked during the demonstration of the Patriots
On the sidelines of the anti-vaccination pass demonstration organized by Florian Philippot’s party, the Patriots, an AFP team – two journalists as well as security agents – were threatened with death and attacked. “After the first shots were taken without incident, the situation became tense after the departure of the procession at the Palais de Tokyo, when around 150 individuals, identified as far-right by journalists, arrived near the team. UA hooded individual with a megaphone said: “It’s AFP, fuck these sons of bitches”. At this call, at least fifty people approached the videographer. The protection agents intervened, allowing the two JRIs to flee“, can we read on the Twitter account of the French agency.
AFP reports that its security agents were then beaten, in particular with truncheons, while they were protecting the videographer, overtaken by about twenty demonstrators. Guards and journalists report receiving death threats. Agence France Presse is studying “the ability to prosecute such inadmissible acts”.