France has shut down Generation Identity (GI) some eight years after the far-right, anti-migrant group rose to prominence in the country by occupying a mosque in Poitiers – the first of many stunts.
In a tweet on Wednesday containing images of the government decree, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said the group has incited “discrimination, hatred and violence”.
The push to close the group followed an undercover operation by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit in 2018, which exposed the group’s racism, violence, and connections with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party.
Génération Identitaire, the French name of the group which had his headquarters in Lyon, advocated for “defending the identity and culture of white Europeans” and decries what it calls the “great replacement” by immigration and “Islamisation”.
At Saturday’s pro-GI rally, Florian Philippot, the president of the Patriots Party and former ally of Marine Le Pen, addressed the crowd.
The group also received messages of support from a number of leading figures in Le Pen’s National Rally.
Dries Van Langenhove, a controversial Belgian parliamentarian from the far-right Vlaams Belang party, also attended.
Videos posted on social media of the protest show GI activists kicking and punching a counter-demonstrator on the ground.
Les militants #GenerationIdentitaire ont lynché au sol un antifa. Il a pris plusieurs coups de pied au visage et plusieurs coups de poing. La #police est intervenue pour séparer, les militants #GenerationIdentitaire ont pris la fuite. #DenfertRochereaupic.twitter.com/V388lwr3jg
The French government has threatened to shut down Generation Identity (GI), a far-right group exposed in an Al Jazeera undercover investigation that seeks to expel Muslims and migrants from Europe.
Interior minister Gerald Darmanin said on Tuesday he was “outraged by the efforts of Generation Identity activists to undermine the Republic” and had asked his staff to gather evidence about the group.
“If there is enough evidence, I will not hesitate to advise closing it down,” Darmanin said in a news conference.
His comments came days after 30 GI members gathered at the Col de Portillion pass on the France-Spain border, in what they called a “surveillance operation to defend Europe”.
Lille, France – Three far-right activists in France caught on camera during an Al Jazeera undercover investigation have been found guilty of offences that included assault, and in one case incitement to “terrorism”.
A judge at the High Court in the northern city of Lille said footage from the two-part documentary
Generation Hate, by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit, played a key role in establishing Tuesday’s verdicts.
Remi Falize, 33, a former leading member of the Flanders branch of the far-right group Generation Identity (GI), was convicted of incitement to “terrorism” and assault. He was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for 18 months.