“The Rise of the Ultra-Right: Is Bordeaux in Danger?”

Tags on mosques, family planning, the offices of elected officials, attacks during the pride march, punitive expedition in the Saint-Michel district, for several months, incidents caused by the identity movement have been increasing in Bordeaux. Are they a danger to democracy? Sunday in Politics opens the debate.

This is a highly anticipated judgment. Tuesday, May 16, the correctional court of Bordeaux must communicate its decision in the case of the punitive expedition of the Saint-Michel district last spring. Eight activists from the local identity movement appeared at the end of March, some minimizing the facts at the hearing. It was an opportunity to see the faces of this ultra-right which worries the highest officials in the fight against terrorism at the national level. And their ideology close to fascism for some.

The mayor of Bordeaux, Pierre Hurmic provides his analysis. “I don’t know if there are more of them in Bordeaux than elsewhere, but they are more visible. There has always been a hard core of this movement here. What also worries me are the national figures. 45% arrests linked to this movement in Europe are in France. But in Bordeaux, they are also in zero tolerance territory. I have therefore systematically filed a complaint against their actions.

As mayor, I am in their crosshairs. I don’t mean to miss them either.

Pierr Hurmic – EELV environmental mayor of Bordeaux

Sunday in politics

While the demonstrations of the ultra-right are at the heart of the news in France, banned elsewhere during this weekend, the movement is active, reactivated for a certain term of office. The website Rue89Bordeaux regularly investigates the subject.

There is a new policy in Bordeaux, a change of direction that is agitating this movement. It existed before, but in hidden circles.

Walid Salem – Director of the Rue89Bordeaux site

Sunday in politics

“For three years (Editor’s note: and the election of the environmentalist mayor), these people have come out of the woods and have not hidden their fascist historical reference. We saw it during the trial of the Saint-Michel affair” poursuit Walid Salem.

Political scientist Jean Petaux shares his opinion: “If we talk about activists, they have woken up, especially on social networks which nationalize local issues. But if we talk about the revolutionary right, French action was very important before the Second World War. We must also remember that it was in Bordeaux that the Republic sank in 1940, with a mayor Adrien Marquet who was Minister of the Interior of Vichy for three months”.