Far-Right Group Launches Anti-Migrant Patrols at Franco-Spanish Border

There were about thirty Génération identitaire activists, dressed in blue, patrolling along the Franco-Spanish border to track down any migrants who might be passing through there, reports Marianne. "We went to this crossing point to demand the total closure of the border and to support the law enforcement agencies," says Thaïs d’Escufon, spokesperson for the identitarian organization.

This new operation, which will take place until Wednesday, exclusively in the department of Haute-Garonne, aims to identify "suspicious profiles" who would be trying to cross the border. According to the spokesperson, these are people who "travel alone, on foot, and are of Afro-Maghrebian origin". If they find any, they claim they will contact the law enforcement agencies.

In a statement published on January 15 in four languages on Telegram, Génération identitaire announced the organization of this new mission and indicated that its activists will "secure" the "possible infiltration zones near Spain". According to its explanations, its action is a continuation of the closure of the Portillon pass, decided on January 6 by a prefectural decree. But a report by La Dépêche du Midi shows that the road of this pass has since been blocked by concrete blocks and filtering operations, as part of the "fight against terrorism".

The operation is provoking reactions. Étienne Guyot, prefect of Haute-Garonne, firmly condemned "the actions, now over, of the Génération identitaire group, purely symbolic actions that did not cause any disturbance to public order but which unnecessarily mobilized the law enforcement agencies, diverting them from their mission of border surveillance". Carole Delga, president of the Occitanie region, Georges Méric, president of the Haute-Garonne Departmental Council, or Joël Aviragnet, deputy, have also condemned this action, and call on the prefect to "firmly and without delay put an end to this show of force contrary to the values of the Republic".