Around 1,000 activists, many clad in black and wearing masks, marched through the streets of Paris on Saturday to commemorate the 1994 death of an ultra-nationalist student. The event, which was initially banned, took place without major incident, according to police, though 13 arrests were made. A counter rally was not authorised.
Demonstrators carried a banner reading “Sébastien Deyzieu Présent” and walked to the beat of drums while chanting “Europa, Youth, Revolution" – the slogan of the GUD, a violent, far-right student union officially disbanded in 2024.
Many participants covered their faces, which is prohibited in France. Some carried torches and displayed symbols linked to far-right movements such as Celtic crosses, and wore black t-shirts with neo-Nazi and hooligan imagery.
The march was organised by the May 9 Committee (C9M). It holds the rally around May 9 every year to mark the anniversary of the death of Sébastien Deyzieu who fell from a building when he was trying to escape the police during a march against American imperialism on 9 May 1994.
Deyzieu was a member of "Oeuvre Française" – a French nationalist, anti-semitic movement founded in 1968 by the son of a Nazi collaborator. Described by the interior ministry as "propagating xenophobic and anti-semitic ideology, racist and Holocaust-denying theories", it was dissolved in 2013.
Thirteen arrested
Some people attending the rally had come from abroad, including Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Spain.
Thirteen people, including counter-protesters, were arrested during the event though police said no major clashes occurred.
Last Wednesday, the Paris prefecture banned both the ultra-right C9M rally and a counter rally described as "antifascist and antiracist", citing public safety concerns.
However, the Paris administrative court overturned the ban on the C9M rally on Friday evening, noting that last year’s march had not led to any legal action.
The counter-march was not authorised. But left-wing activists, backed by the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, organised an "antifascist village" near the Patheon where figures of the French Resistance such as Jean Moulin, Josephine Baker, Missak and Mélinée Manouchian are honoured.
The event, in its second year, is designed to be a "reminder that neo-nazis have no more place in our streets than their ancestors". Some 3,000 people attended, according to the organisers.
Xenophobic groups banned
In 2023, the ultra-nationalist rally sparked controversy when around 600 neo-Nazis marched through Paris on 8 May, when Europe commemorates the victory of Allied forces over Nazi Germany.
Facing criticism for allowing the march, Gérald Darmanin, interior minister at the time, told police chiefs to ban far-right extremist demonstrations in France, leaving it up to the courts to authorise them or not.
In December 2023, the ultra-right Division Martel group was disbanded following violent clashes with police in the south of France. Founded in 2022, it promoted "the use of violence to foster the advent of nationalist and xenophobic supremacy".
Government bid to outlaw French far-right group prompts online petition
Génération Identitaire (Generation Identity), which gained notoriety through several attempts to block migrants from entering the country, was banned in 2021, and the Turkish ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves movement in 2020.
