Celtic crosses and Nazi symbols in the streets of Paris. Several hundred ultra -right activists paraded on Saturday afternoon in the capital At the call of the “Committee of 9-May” (“C9m”). Often dressed in black and the concealed face, they walked between Port-Royal and rue des Chartreux (life arrondissement).
The approximately 1,000 participants, according to the prefecture of police,, the ultra -right slogan “Europe, Youth, Revolution”, began the sound of drums. Some sported Celtic crosses or t-shirts evoking Nazi iconography, as well as The Hooligan movement.
Neofascist activists from the ultra-right group #C9M Currently parade in the streets of Paris.
Among the participants, members wear neonazi symbols and belong to dissolved groups such as GUD or linked to radical identity movement.… pic.twitter.com/2i7Kt8q3SS
– Clpress / Press Agency (@Clpressfr) May 10, 2025
The Paris police headquarters (PP) initially prohibited this event annual by arguing of a risk of public disorders. But the Paris administrative court had suspended this measurementbelieving in a judgment rendered on Friday evening that “the same demonstration organized last year had not given rise to any prosecution of demonstrators”.
Tribute to a nationalist activist
The activists commemorated the death of one of them, Sébastien Deyzieu, who died accidentally on May 7, 1994. This militant of the French work had died 31 years ago, making an accidental fall during a demonstration organized by The Union Defense group (GUD), dissolved in 2024, “against American imperialism”. Clashes had then broken out between the militants and the police, and Sébastien Deyzieu had fled on a roof, chased by the police, before making a deadly fall.
Following his death, far-right organizations, including the GUD, formed the committee of 9-May. Shortly after, activists tried without success to enter by force at the home of Charles Pasquathen Minister of the Interior. They then invested the Fun Radio premises, demanding the minister’s resignation. Seven activists will be arrested. In court, they will be defended in particular by a certain Marine Le Pen.
The first commemoration took place in 1995 and ended at the death of Deyzieu, a practice perpetuated since. Since then, activists have gathered each year in the streets of Paris. THE Sunday newspaper explains that several hundred people participated in the demonstrations during the first years, before the event lost its scale. Only 80 participants were present in 2017, according to the Sunday newspaper. But the C9M will regain colors: its ranks are gradually growing in the following years.
Revolutionary nationalist movement
The real switch took place in 2023. That year, some 600 ultra-right activists, mostly dressed in black and the masked face, parade in the streets of Paris By exhibiting flags with Celtic crosses and chanting “Europe Youth Revolution”, the slogan of the Student Syndicate of Far Right GUD. The apparent resurgence of this movement had triggered a lively controversy.
In 2024, the police headquarters decided to ban walking, as this year. But here again, the Paris administrative court ended up authorizing it on the grounds of the freedom to demonstrate, scandalizing a large part of the Parisian elected officials. Nearly 800 people, dressed in black and equipped with reinforced shoes, had then paraded Under the gaze of dumbfounded passers -by. No overflow had occurred, the demonstration being supervised by an order service which watched over the grain.
Years are passing but the revolutionary nationalist movement oversees each edition the same slogans, symbols and representations. “It refers to fascism and Nazism, very present through the symbols that militants adorn”, like the Celtic cross, a reference shared on the far right, indicated in our columns Ugo Palheta, lecturer at the University of Lille, in 2023. A symbol still seen this Saturday on dozens of flags during the demonstration on Saturday.
Last February, the attack of an anti -fascist activist In Paris by radical far -right activists had recalled to Parisians the presence of groups, some of which have made violence a mode of expression.
