The reading was to be held in the library of Saint-Senoux (Ille-et-Vilaine) in front of an audience of children aged 3 to 6 years old. Particularity: it was to be led by three drag queens as part of a workshop around gender equality. An unbearable intervention in the eyes of certain militants of the far-right group L’Oriflamme Rennes, who had disturbed the reading by brandishing banners and cracking smoke bombs in front of the small library. The municipality strongly condemned and lodged a complaint.
This Friday, the public prosecutor of Rennes announced that the man who spoke with a megaphone had been identified and placed in police custody. Presented as the organizer of the demonstration, this man is also the founder of the far-right small group L’Oriflamme, heir to L’Action française. At the microphone, the man had notably uttered homophobic and transphobic insults such as “LGBT degenerates”. Or: “Less trans people, more France! “. The same terms were found in a leaflet signed by L’Oriflamme distributed on the spot.
Placed in police custody twice, the defendant remained silent. He will be tried on September 11 before the Criminal Court of Rennes under the qualifications of organizing a public demonstration without authorization, voluntary concealment of the face during a demonstration accompanied by disturbances or risks of disturbances to public order, public provocation to hatred or violence on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, public insult against a body in public authority. Already known to the judicial services, he faces a maximum sentence of one year’s imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros, according to the prosecution.