In an interview with “Le Monde”, the director of French intelligence recalls that ten ultra-right terrorist attack projects have been foiled since 2017.
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A rare word. The director general of internal security (DGSI), Nicolas Lerner, alert, Sunday, July 9, on “the very worrying resurgence” violent actions of the ultra-right since the spring. “A part [de l’ultradroite] is part of an assumed break with the democratic framework”underlines the head of French internal intelligence in an interview with the newspaper The world.
Nicolas Lerner is worried about “the trivialization of the use of violence and the temptation to want to impose one’s ideas through fear or intimidation” in the movement of the ultra-right, “about 2,000 strong”. Ten ultra-right terrorist attack projects have been foiled since 2017, he recalls. These could have been “neo-Nazi-inspired, accelerationistracist or conspiratorial with targets as varied as citizens of the Muslim or Jewish faith, elected officials or Freemasons”, he said.
Islamist terrorist risk in Europe or Central Asia
Regarding the movement of the ultra-left, the importation of its “modes of action” on environmental issues “is a subject of concern”, judges the boss of the DGSI. “The fight against global warming is a legitimate fight that deserves to be fought with determination. But with the means accepted in democracy”, believes Nicolas Lerner. He regrets that “this claim constitutes for some a pretext to attack the symbols of the State, the forces of order, what they call the ‘system'”.
However, he does not use the term“ecoterrorists” of Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, explaining that‘”no action” of a terrorist nature has been committed in the name of the environmental cause in recent years, while remaining “vigilant” in the face of “ideologies that legitimize and theorize the use of violent action”.
Finally, on the Islamist terrorist risk, the boss of the DGSI says he is monitoring more and more “radicalized individuals residing in Europe or Central Asia” encouraged to take action by “terrorist organizations in Syria and, increasingly, in Afghanistan”.