Dissolution in France: ultra-right groups dissolved

– Ultra-right groups dissolved by the French government

Gérald Darmanin has decided to dissolve four extremist groups, the best known of which is the GUD, an ultra-right student union.

Published today at 3:15 p.m.

Far-right demonstrators brandish a flag of the French student political group GUD (Groupe Union Défense) against riot police, May 26, 2013 in Paris, on the sidelines of demonstrations against the law on same-sex marriage.

AFP/THOMAS SAMSON

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The French government announced on Wednesday the dissolution of four ultra-right groups. A measure which comes a few days before the first round of the legislative elections.

The best known is the GUD (Groupe union défense), a far-right student union created in the 1970s and recently reactivated.

Three groups based in the city of Lyon (Les Remparts, La Traboule and Top Sport Rhône) were also dissolved on Wednesday in the Council of Ministers, said government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot. An Islamist association, Jonas Paris, was also dissolved on Wednesday.

“We have just dissolved far-right associations, including the GUD, and radical Islamists in the Council of Ministers,” wrote French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on X. “The hatred of the extremes must be fought by the Republic,” he added.

Incitement to “violent actions”

Never dissolved but dormant since 2017, the GUD announced its return at the end of 2022. Mr. Darmanin announced last week that he was going to propose to President Emmanuel Macron the dissolution of the GUD, which he had accused of being “friendly” of “people” from the National Rally (RN), the far-right party leading the polls in Sunday’s legislative elections.

This small group incites “violent actions against people”, according to the dissolution decree. The group “also published targeted messages against people or members of groups presented as “antifa” to implicitly incite violence against them,” the decree continues (in reference to antifascists).

As for the group Les Remparts, it holds a “discourse provoking hatred, discrimination and violence against foreigners”, by “developing a discourse focused on the defense of the race and the incompatibility between Islam and Western civilization,” according to the decree. The group will contest its dissolution before the Council of State, announced a spokesperson.

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