Rhône prefecture bans neo-Nazi black metal festival

The Rhône prefecture announced Wednesday February 21 that it had banned the organization in the department of a black metal festival affiliated with neo-Nazi ideology scheduled for February 24 in the Rhône-Alpes region, with a known headliner.for his pieces to the glory of the Third Reich“.

In a decree dated February 19, the prefecture considers that the Call of Terror festival, of which it was the fifth clandestine edition in France, “constitutes, by its very object, a major disturbance to immaterial public order due to the attack on human dignity by the ideology it promotes“.

Affiliation with “the National Socialist movement”

The ban order highlights the affiliation of the organizers “to the National Socialist movement“, “the naming of groups” – like Leibwätcher (bodyguard) in reference to the SS division responsible for Hitler’s close protection – and their links with the neo-Nazi movement.

The text also cites the headliner, the Polish group Graveland, known for its homophobic and anti-Semitic lyrics. A group affiliated with the National Socialism Black Metal movement linked to the Blood and Honor network, disbanded in July 2019 by ministerial decree. The date of the 24th February also seems to owe nothing to chance since it is the anniversary of the creation of the NDSAP, Hitler’s party, also notes the prefecture.

“Will to conceal”

The authorities thus consider that the festival “is likely to give rise to comments inciting racial hatred and violence (….) particularly against the Jews as well as the apology for the crimes committed by the Nazis during the Second World War“.

The festival was announced on social networks, without any other indication of location than “Rhône-Alpes region“. Which, according to the prefecture, shows a “desire for concealment“.