France Plans to Ban Neo-Nazi Groups

[Menydh]

France Plans to Ban Neo-Nazi Groups

Deutsche Welle
February 3, 2005

French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin on Tuesday told lawmakers he would ask the center-right government to back a proposal to break up all neo-Nazi groups.

"These movements must be dissolved, and I will propose this to the cabinet" in accordance with a January 1936 law that authorizes the disbanding of associations seen as a threat to public order and democracy, De Villepin said.

The interior minister estimated that some 3,000 people belong to neo-Nazi groups across France.

"We will see to it that these groups are not reconstructed under false names," De Villepin added, calling the movements "a threat and a danger, especially when we know their activities are more and more violent."

The minister said neo-Nazi groups were responsible for 65 acts of violence in 2004, as compared with just 27 such acts in 2003.

De Villepin, the government's point man on law and order, said he would crack down on the spread of neo-Nazi ideas via the Internet, and ask mayors and regional officials to help prevent public meetings of neo-Nazi groups.

Alsace, in eastern France along the German border, is one of the country's neo-Nazi strongholds, where the extreme right-wing party Front National also does well. The groups operate there surreptitiously, organizing meetings under the guise of friendly soccer matches, for example, where the tone changes once the players retire to bars for some after-sport refreshment.

Mayors scared

Local authorities are almost powerless to stop the neo-Nazi gatherings. Renting out meeting rooms is a private affair that officials can't simply ban. Many mayors are too afraid of the consequences if they took aggressive measures against the sometimes large groups of neo-Nazis that meet in their small towns and villages.

"'If we chase them away, there'll be a brawl and then it'll be difficult,' says the mayor who fears the neo-Nazis will terrorize his village," according to Mayor Gilbert Reutenauer in Hinsbourg, where around 800 of them held a gathering in October 2003.

Some are skeptical that the interior minister's plans will make a difference at all since it's hard to identify the culprits in the first place.

"They don't show pictures of Hitler, or anything that recalls the past," said Rene Monzat, an expert on the right-wing extremist scene. "The minister's push is welcome but it remains symbolic."

Europe's largest Muslim and Jewish populations live in France. Both communities have been the victims of increasing violence in recent years. Earlier this month, a government investigation found that France's far-right groups were increasingly targeting Muslims rather than Jews.


[source]

[Ederico]

Same "arguments" are being made in Malta, obviously Pro-Maltese and Anti-Immigration equals Neo-Nazis, quite a subjective and easily abused term in relation to Nationalist groupings.

[Awar]

The neo-nazis have done a lot of damage to regular nationalists.
They degrade the reputation normal nationalists have.

[Amphi]

Originally Posted by Awar

The neo-nazis have done a lot of damage to regular nationalists.
They degrade the reputation normal nationalists have.

In fact,I don't see many important differences between Neonazis and Nationalists.
I think the most Nazis are some Nationalists who love Hitler,SS etc and the Neonazi "lifestyle" in general.

[Cristoforo]

The minister said neo-Nazi groups were responsible for 65 acts of violence in 2004, as compared with just 27 such acts in 2003.

One has to compare that with the victims of immigration (who knows how many French directly/indirectly got in trouble/got injured because of acts by non-European immigrants) to understand that's not that bad.

Of course, unjustified violence is always condemnable and these nazi groups are the best weapon our opposition has to discredit all of us.

[Timo]

Originally Posted by Amphi

Ι hope to ban them.
SMASH NAZISM!

*Hate Crime Alert!*

That is not vary accepting of you. Infact that is rather bigoted.

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Amphi

In fact,I don't see many important differences between Neonazis and Nationalists.
I think the most Nazis are some Nationalists who love Hitler,SS etc and the Neonazi "lifestyle" in general.

Not only you are another of those neo-hippy individuals with a Eurasiatic agenda, and a Communist, but you are also too blinded by your fanaticism to see the difference between a mule and a racing horse.

You are also too blind or too lazy to read not the rules, but the orientation of this board in the welcome note.

Now go back to your commune. You are banned.

[Frankiz]

Originally Posted by Cristoforo

One has to compare that with the victims of immigration (who knows how many French directly/indirectly got in trouble/got injured because of acts by non-European immigrants) to understand that's not that bad.

Of course, unjustified violence is always condemnable and these nazi groups are the best weapon our opposition has to discredit all of us.

Exactly! Villepin knows it well, that 's why among a few tiny neo-nazi groups, he named in a sunday newspaper an official independantist right-wing independantist breton party which has nothing to do with nazism! This party will probably not be forbidden, as I don't see how he would justify his ban on a legal basis, but his aim was obviously to discredit it.

By the way, agressions against Jews and jewish places are far more due to muslim persons than neo-nazi ones. The article "forgot" to notice it!