It is an event that sparks controversy every year. Several hundred ultra-right activists marched in Paris on Saturday afternoon, without incident, at the call of the “May 9 Committee” to commemorate the death of one of them, Sébastien Deyzieu, who died accidentally in 1994.
The Paris police headquarters initially banned this annual demonstration, citing a risk of disturbing public order. But the Paris administrative court suspended this measure, finding in a judgment rendered Saturday morning that it posed “a serious and manifestly illegal attack on the freedom to demonstrate.”
Flags crossed with the Celtic cross
Behind a “Sébastien present” banner and in the middle of flags crossed out with the Celtic cross, the activists (500 according to a police source) marched from Port-Royal to rue des Chartreux, where they gathered in front of the building where Sébastien Deyzieu had an accidental fatal fall during a demonstration. Supervised by a hooded security service and monitored by large numbers of law enforcement officers, the parade took place without incident.
A few hundred meters from the starting point of the ultra-right parade, anti-fascist activists had set up stands and a refreshment bar to denounce their gathering. “Today there are neo-Nazis demonstrating again, year after year, in the streets of the capital,” lamented a spokesperson for the Young Anti-Fascist Guard organization, Raphaël Arnault. “We are here to show our positions, with an alternative to their ideas. »
The administrative court does not follow Darmanin
In 2023, the parade of the “May 9 Committee”, which had not been banned, sparked a lively controversy. Some 600 ultra-right activists, mostly dressed in black and with masked faces, marched through the streets of Paris, showing flags with Celtic crosses and chanting “Europe youth revolution”, the slogan of the student union of far right Gud (Union defense group).
In reaction to the controversy, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin asked the prefects to ban all ultra-right demonstrations and meetings. In Paris, the administrative court has since suspended several times, in the name of freedom to demonstrate, banning orders issued by Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez.