The French government has announced the official dissolution of the anti-mass migration activist group Generation Identitaire (Generation Identity), after Interior Minister Gerald Darmamin claimed they incite violence.
The dissolution decree states that the identitarian group, which became famous following the 2015 migrant crisis for their Greenpeace-esque protests and actions, “should be seen as inciting hate speech discrimination or violence against individuals because of their origin, race and religion.”
Darmanin added in the decree that Generation Identitaire “could be seen as having the character of a private militia” and accused the group of having a “military form and organisation” 20 Minutes reports.
The decree also notes that the group had received a donation from Christchurch mosque terrorist Brenton Tarrant, who gave the group 2,200 euros in the autumn of 2017, well over a year before his March 2019 attack that claimed the lives of 51 people.
French ‘Crimes Against Humanity, Genocide, War Crimes’ Body to Investigate Anti-Migration Protest https://t.co/LFJvRTTP6i
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 16, 2021
Other far-right groups are mentioned, but not specifically named, as having links to Generation Identitaire in the decree, which states it has “links with ultra-right groups… who defend an ideology calling for discrimination, violence or hatred in the name of racialist or supremacist theories.”
The group’s dissolution came despite protests from the group last month in Paris, where a demonstration was held by a group of between 1,500 and 2,000 members and supporters.
The government decree comes just weeks after it was revealed that France’s Central Office for Combating Crimes Against Humanity, Genocide, and War Crimes (OCLCH) was investigating group members over a protest against illegal migration in the French Pyrenees that took place in January.
The French government has also previously taken members of the group to court over border demonstrations. Several members were found guilty of offences linked to a 2018 protest, but they were all acquitted by an appeals court.
Austrian Identitarians Fully Acquitted Of ‘Mafia’ and Hate Crime Charges https://t.co/dLOtm9s3ff
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 27, 2018
Other countries, such as Austria, have made similar attempts to ban the group and declare them akin to a mafia organisation, but mounted these efforts in courts of law rather than via government decree.
Ultimately, the case against the Austrian group was a failure and those charged were acquitted in 2018.
In Germany, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), the countries domestic spying agency, admitted they were actively spying on German identitarians as early as 2016.
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