Generation Identitaire

The group's logo, retrieved from their Twitter page

Génération Identitaire is a small French anti-Muslim and right-wing extremist group. It was founded in September 2012. The group emanates from the European-wide "Identitarian Bloc" founded in 2003 by the ex-leaders of Unité Radicale (UR) - Fabrice Robert. UR had been dissolved a year earlier, as Maxime Brunerie, who was close to the movement, had attempted to murder the president Jacques Chirac.

Leaders of the group include Julien Langella, Pierre Larti

Ideology

Focusing their appeal towards French youth, they claim to be the "first line of resistance against mass immigration" ("Génération Identitaire est la première ligne de la résistance"), and urges younger people in France to "fight for their identity" and for the "reconquest" ("notre idéal est la reconquête") of their country. They insist on the fact that youth plays a central, executive role in the movement, unlike other parties. ("Dans les partis politiques, les jeunes sont la main d’œuvre. Au sein de Génération Identitaire, nous sommes la tête et les coeurs.")

They believe France is being attacked by a government that wishes to impose a uniformity of culture by not curbing immigration, by teaching history classes that prevent people from loving their country, and by advocating for a failing 'multi-culturalism'. The group's statement also claims to be fighting against the "racaille", or "riffraff" and that France is in danger of 'Islamification'. Their views are clear on their website, which states: “We do not want more immigration from outside Europe or new mosque construction on French soil”.

Actions

The group focuses on direct and confrontational actions.

It first made headlines in November 2012 when around 60 member occupied the construction site of a new mosque to protest against the influence of Islam in France in the town of Poitiers. They climbed onto the building's roof and displayed a banner marked with “732 generation identity” in reference to the year 732, when Charles Martel halted the advance of the invading Muslim army to the north of Poitiers. In an interview, Langella said: "The political elite has to understand that it's a fight to the death because it's a matter of survival."

In October 2015, they 'occupied' the roof of a future 'house of welcome' for traveller people near Lyon. They deployed a banner where was written "Saint-Genis will not be Calais", although no traveller population inhabits the "Jungle".

In November of the same year they 'occupied' the roof of a former retirement home meant to house a hundred refugees in Triel-sur-Seine. They claimed it was outrageous that senior citizens ad to be displaced in the name of 'migrants' they did not believe to be fleeting war, but to be 'economic' migrants.

More actions of the same type have been committed by the group.

Since 2014 they have multiplied "security operations" in French tube lines (Lille, Nantes, Lyon and Paris), which consist of around twenty members occupying a metro for little more than an hour, dressed in yellow raincoats marked with their group's logo. They claim to do so to defend people from the "riffraff", which their multiple actions and videos clearly equate with Muslims, asylum seekers, and traveller populations.

Their obsession with security is also shown with the 'training' and 'auto-defence' camps that they regularly run, and the gym rooms they open, exclusively for “les jeunes FDS (Français de souche)”, i.e. non-immigrant youth.

Their actions and militaristic outlook strongly resemble that of Britain First.

HeadQuarters

The group has plans to open a new bar in the centre of Lille, just 200 metres from the Grand Palais, in September 2016. Their center will contain a boxing gym, a cinema, and a library, mainly planned to function like a headquarters for the group's supporters in the northern city.

The bar, called La Citadelle, is scheduled to open amidst complaints by locals and a petition launched against it.