Reactions of indignation multiplied Tuesday in France after a demonstration by ultra-right activists on Saturday in the streets of Paris, which the police authorities had decided not to ban.
Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne deemed “shocking” the images of some 500 demonstrators who marched in an upscale district of the capital, dressed in black and often masked, showing Celtic crosses and chanting a slogan of a small group of extreme right now dissolved.
The head of government, however, considered that “there was no reason to ban this demonstration”, responding to criticism from the left in particular, which accuses the authorities of culpable leniency towards the ultra-right. .
The socialist senator from Paris David Assouline thus challenged the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, considering “inadmissible to have let 500 neo-Nazis and fascists parade in the heart of Paris”. ” Explain yourself ! he summoned on Twitter.
The procession also shocked the leader of the far-right deputies of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen. “These provocations cannot be tolerated. It is unacceptable, ”said the finalist of the last presidential election on the antenna of Sud Radio.
The Paris police headquarters, which depends on the Ministry of the Interior, had chosen not to ban this demonstration, which takes place every year in tribute to a far-right activist who died accidentally in 1994.
Pan concerts prohibited
The left-wing parties have noted that the prefectural authorities have, on the other hand, recently banned gatherings of opponents of the head of state, who accompany his movements with concerts of saucepans to protest against the recent and highly contested pension reform.
“Saucepans are clearly more dangerous than the sound of boots…”, quipped French Communist Party spokesman Ian Brossat on Twitter.
Faced with the controversy, the Paris police headquarters defended the absence of a ban, stressing that this demonstration had, in previous years, caused “no overflow or disturbance to public order”.
In January, the authorities banned a torchlight march organized in Paris by ultra-right groups, but this decision was overturned by the administrative courts.
Very fragmented, the ultra-right movement would have some 1,500 activists in France, according to the authorities. At the beginning of January, five cases linked to this ideology were the subject of investigations opened at the anti-terrorist center in Paris.