Members of Génération Identitaire demonstrate in Paris in November 2019. -

Remon Haazen / Shutterstock / SIPA

  • During a press conference on Tuesday, Gérald Darmanin said he was "scandalized" by the recent anti-migrant actions of Generation Identity.

  • The Minister of the Interior asked his services "to bring together the elements that would allow" to propose to Emmanuel Macron the dissolution of this group.

  • A threat made several times since the creation of the movement in 2012 but which has never been successful.

The threat is as old as the group itself.

Since its official launch in September 2012, the xenophobic group Génération Identitaire has regularly been the subject of requests for dissolution.

Already mentioned in April 2019 and then last November, the hypothesis was once again addressed this Tuesday morning by the Minister of the Interior.

"I was scandalized by the work, if I may say so, to undermine the Republic of Identity Generation activists who are not at their first coup," said Gérald Darmanin at a conference Press.

The anti-migrant operation carried out on January 19 in the Pyrenees and mentioned by the minister has since earned identity activists the target of a preliminary investigation for "public provocation to racial hatred" opened on Tuesday.

The ministry, for its part, is working to "bring together the elements" with a view to proposing the administrative dissolution of the group to the President of the Republic.

Claimed successively since 2012 by various political parties and anti-racist associations, this dissolution however comes up against legal difficulties.

"New elements"

To dissolve an association, the Minister of the Interior must present a decree to the Council of Ministers.

The law, and more precisely the Internal Security Code (CSI), provides seven grounds for the authorities to abolish an associative structure.

It may be an incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence against a person or group of people because of their race, religion or ethnicity.

Dissolution may also target associations whose aim is to “undermine the integrity of the national territory” or even those bearing the characteristics of private militias or combat groups.

In the event of an appeal, the Minister of the Interior must be able to justify his request during an adversarial debate before the administrative justice.

Contacted by 

20 Minutes,

the ministry indicates that if the “question of the dissolution of Generation Identity is not new”, “elements” linked to “recent actions” of the group “deserve to be studied”.

"This will require a work of several weeks of territorial intelligence in connection with the direction of civil liberties and legal affairs (DLPAJ) of the ministry", adds the place Beauvau.

A "delicate" procedure

For the political scientist specializing in the extreme right, Jean-Yves Camus, the mission promises to be delicate: “Génération Identitaire is not an armed militia and the fact of overthrowing the republican form of the current government is not to be expected. his agenda.

What could be retained is possibly the incitement to discrimination but, here too, it is tenuous, since the movement targets all migrants in its actions and not a specific group.

"

The movement for its part recalls that no final judicial sentence has been pronounced against them.

The precision is exact since a release was requested in the procedure for a previous anti-immigrant operation carried out in the Alps.

And an appeal was made after their conviction at first instance for their intrusion on the roof of the Caf (Caisse d'Allocations Familiales) in Bobigny.

But this element does not change the dissolution procedure.

"Movements have already been dissolved in the past while no legal proceedings have targeted their members," recalls Jean-Yves Camus.

The risk of a snub

If, in recent months, the Ministry of the Interior has won its case with the dissolution of associations suspected of belonging to the Islamist movement such as BarakaCity, or the Cheikh Yassine collective, the case of Generation Identity could prove more risky, underlines Jean-Yves Camus.

"Badly put together requests for dissolutions have already been rebutted in the 1980s. Arriving before the Council of State and losing would be a real snub for the Interior," he said.

But the outcome of the dissolution procedure can also be counterproductive, he believes: “This can lead to the radicalization of some members.

The effect on the group's activity is temporary, and it remains a very political decision ”.

Contacted by 

20 Minutes,

the movement's lawyer, Pierre-Vincent Lambert, said he was “ready” to challenge the dissolution decree if it was adopted by the Council of Ministers.

“We will mobilize if necessary.

But if, despite the threats, this request has not been made until now, it is because they do not have sufficient information.

"And to warn:" In the field of freedom of expression and freedom of association, it will be an interesting file.

Politics

Identity generation: "Scandalized", Gérald Darmanin studies its dissolution

Society

Pyrenees: An anti-migrant patrol of identitarians arouses outrage

  • Justice

  • Nationalist

  • Dissolution

  • Association

  • Gerald Darmanin

  • Migrants

  • Identity generation