On the Place du Ralliement on Monday September 30, around 180 people responded to the call from Angevin ultra-right groups to pay tribute to Philippine, the raped and killed student found in the Bois de Boulogne on September 21. The main suspect is a Moroccan national already convicted of rape and under an obligation to leave French territory. Several people claiming to belong in particular to the Chouan Movement and the Student Cockade made an anti-immigrant speech and castigated justice lax
.
Loudspeaker in hand, Jean Eudes Gannat, founder of Alvarium (a small identity group dissolved by the Ministry of the Interior) and of the Chouan Movement, criticized Christophe Béchu, the mayor of Angers, for not having had a word for the student. Accused by anti-fascist activists of surfing on a news item to promote far-right politics, the activist declared: Isn’t it normal that we do recovery?
The crowd, which had remained silent until now, chanted: Justice for Philippines
and prayed aloud before dispersing peacefully.
“Instrumentalization” denounce the antifas
At the same time, a few streets away, anti-fascist activists were moving through tear gas. From 6 p.m., more than seventy of them gathered at Place Imbach to denounce instrumentalization
of the ultra right. Dressed all in jeans, Guillaume, 51, was alerted to the event by an anti-fascist vigilance group. He castigates the habit that the extreme right has of exploiting by playing on the emotional
. The suspect’s profile is just a good excuse
. At her side, Alice, 22, emphasizes that the same small groups did not speak out about the rapes in Mazan. Philippine was killed and raped by a man, that’s what we have to remember. It’s horrible to play on a person’s death to spread racist ideas. Especially since the far right is the enemy of women.
“The disease of public service”
The mobilization initially took place calmly, only a few gases were thrown by the police to prevent the procession from reaching the city center and avoid possible clashes. Nadine knows the music and stood aside. The septuagenarian was not at her first demonstration, she who had beaten the pavement against colonization in Vietnam and Africa
. His presence this Monday evening aimed to counter the nauseating ideas of fascist youth established in Maine-et-Loire. Philippine’s drama reveals the disease of public service. Instead of demanding resources for educators, places in prison and trained personnel, the far right is taking advantage of the death of a student to attack migrants.
As she walked up Boulevard Carnot accompanied by her friend, things began to deteriorate. The procession moved back, on the orders of the police, but the police fired a large number of tear gas grenades. She quickly tightened the noose around the demonstrators, some of whom found refuge in a laundromat then in a building and a bar on rue Boisnet. The police carried out numerous identity checks before leaving the scene.
