‘This situation is terrifying’: rise in far-right violence ahead of key French election

When a Green party activist was headbutted in the street, his attackers told him there was more to come when the far right’s Jordan Bardella wins France’s parliamentary election. A Muslim family received a note with similar threats.

Hours after Mr Bardella’s National Rally (RN) party scored big in the European election this month, four men in Paris assaulted a teenager at whom they hurled homophobic and transphobic slurs.

The four, who were found guilty and sentenced after the attack, told police they were RN party members and members of the violent far-right GUD group, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

While the interior ministry says it does not have consolidated numbers on such incidents, they offer a snapshot of what rights groups say are a rising number of assaults motivated by race, religion, homophobia, transphobia and political allegiance during campaigning for France’s snap election.

The RN says it has no links to violent far-right and neo-Nazi groups. It did not reply to a request for comment about the spate of incidents since the European election.

Opinion polls project the RN will emerge as the dominant political power after the two rounds tomorrow and on July 7, winning support from French people who say president Emmanuel Macron’s centre-right party has ignored their concerns about the rising cost of living and weaker public services.

“We’ll smash you, Bardella will win, and it starts now,” Green party activist Olivier Richard recounted the two young attackers as saying. They headbutted him in the face in Bordeaux as he carried pamphlets for the left-wing New Popular Front, which is expected to come second in the vote.

“They were sure they were going to win and could do what they wanted. This situation is terrifying,” Mr Richard said.

Political tensions have long intensified ahead of votes in France. But rights groups and activists say something has shifted this time, with violent individuals holding far-right sympathies seemingly feeling emboldened to physically and verbally assault others.

Michael Colborne, researcher for Bellingcat on transnational far-right networks, said that if the RN was to take power, young men could feel empowered to “take matters into their own hands”.

“These violent far-right extremist groups are slowly growing, consolidating and preparing to use violence,” he said.

Interior minister Gerald Darmanin has warned of the potential for “extremely strong tensions”. He announced this week he had shut a number of far-right groups, including the GUD.

Before Mr Darmanin took action against the GUD, Mr Bardella, who would most likely become prime minister if the RN wins a majority, said he would close down violent groups from the ultra right and ultra left. “I would protect individual freedoms, the freedom to protest... My red line is violence,” he said.

Rights groups report a rise in racist, homophobic and transphobic attacks since the June 9 European election, which saw Marine Le Pen’s RN trounce Mr Macron’s ruling party, prompting the president to call the shock election.

Anti-racism campaigner Saphia Ait Ouarabi said she had in the past weeks been on the receiving end of racial abuse online.

“Far-right ideas radicalise people on the ground and it spurs them to commit violent acts,” she said.

The Collective Against Islamophobia in Europe (CCIE) said it received a record number of reports of Islamophobic acts during this month – 145 to June 25, up from a monthly average of 85 – with a sharp rise of verbal aggressions targeting veiled women on the street.

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