A dozen residents of a town near Dijon say they have received neo-Nazi leaflets in their mailbox. Similar cases had already been reported in Finistère, Côte d’Or and Seine-Maritime.
An investigation was opened after the discovery of neo-Nazi leaflets in the mailboxes of at least “a dozen” inhabitants of a town near Dijon, with similarities to other recent broadcasts elsewhere in France, a- we learned Thursday from the local authorities.
“In this very troubled period, the evil returns (…) it is very worrying. I thought it was over”, declared to AFP the mayor DVG of Genlis (Côte-d’Or) Martial Mathiron , announcing the imminent filing of a complaint.
A homophobic, anti-Semitic and racist document
The elected representative of this town of around 5,300 inhabitants, about twenty kilometers from Dijon, was contacted by “more than ten inhabitants” on Tuesday, telling him that he had discovered an openly homophobic leaflet in their mailbox, anti-Semitic and racist.
According to him, there must be “a hundred mailboxes affected”. Titled “Message to our fellow white people”, the leaflet calls on “the white man” to “restore the dominance of the white race”.
When questioned, the Dijon prosecutor’s office indicated that an investigation was underway, without being able to specify the number of leaflets in question. Asked about the concordances between these leaflets and others recently distributed in some 17 municipalities of Finistère as well as in the Jura, the prosecutor indicated that “research (was) in progress for possible cross-checks”.
The Côte-d’Or prefecture confirmed to AFP that it had also seized the prosecution, without further comment. Similar leaflets had also been discovered at the end of May in the mailboxes of residents of the commune of Neuville-Chant-d’Oisel in Seine-Maritimeand an investigation was opened.
The leaflet refers to the “DemPart” (for “Participatory Democracy”) website, which the justice system had asked to be blocked at the end of 2018 following multiple convictions on negationist, racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic remarks.
The site, still visible in France because it is hosted in the United States, calls in particular for support for the French Holocaust denier Vincent Reynouard, arrested on November 10, 2022 in Scotland after multiple convictions by French justice. He offers the possibility of downloading the leaflet, advising to photocopy it to distribute it in the middle of the night, masked head and gloved hands.
“Surfing the wave of indignation in the neighborhoods”
The national center for the fight against online hate (PNLH) opened an investigation on June 1 after the publication on May 12 of a leaflet by the Participatory Democracy (DP) website in an article entitled “Print our last leaflet! People’s Racial Awakening Department”.
The survey targets public provocation to violence, hatred, discrimination against a person or a group of people because of their origin or their membership or non-membership of a ethnicity, nation, race, religion, as well as direct provocation not followed by effect to commit an attack on life or aggravated physical integrity.
Complicity was also found for both offences. The investigations were entrusted to the Central Office for Combating Crimes Against Humanity and Hate Crimes.
The publication of this leaflet had been reported to justice by the International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (Licra) on May 30. Anti-Semitic leaflets were also found Thursday in mailboxes in Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin): “These are filthy, insulting leaflets, with swastikas on the four corners. We see the themes dear to white supremacists, extremists of the right who do not support diversity”, specified the assistant to the security of the town hall of Mulhouse, Paul Quin.
“It is undoubtedly to ride the wave of indignation in the neighborhoods. It is deplorable, lamentable. It is the zero degree of political reflection”, he added.
Jeanne Bulant with AFP Journalist BFMTV
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