Far-right group march in French city as counter-protest vows not to 'give space'

A far-right group mobilised in a French city over the weekend but was met with counter-protesters who vowed not to "give them space".

In 2023, the group Des Tours et Des Lys organised a torchlight procession in the heart of Tours on Saint-Martin's evening, paying tribute to the city's patron saint.

This year, the event was scheduled for Saturday evening, November 9, with feminist and anti-fascist groups from Tours calling for a counter-protest at Place du Monstre.

The two events occurred simultaneously, with police preventing any interaction between the groups by deploying around twenty officers.

"Don't give them space on the street" was the rallying cry for the counter-protesters gathered at 7pm at Place du Monstre.

Antoine, from Angers, told France Bleu: "I saw the Alavrium set up, develop and organise roundups. Now that I live in Tours, I don't want to see a group like Des Tours et Des Lys do the same. I came to makeup the numbers, to not give them space in public spaces."

Around a hundred people joined him, standing behind a banner reading "Tours Antifascist, All Antifascist", before chanting slogans such as "no fascists in our neighbourhoods, no neighbourhoods for fascists".

Clement, a young activist, said: "If we let there be a hundred or 200 or 300 of them, we are ridiculous and above all, it is dangerous, we cannot let these people believe that they have total impunity in the city."

A march was quickly organised, with police having to divert it several times into the historic centre to avoid a clash with the far-right group's torchlight procession moving from Saint-Gatien cathedral to the Saint-Martin basilica.

A few streets away, between 150 and 200 locals from Tours as well as some from Brittany and Paris marched.

Holding torches and marching under the watchful eye of the group's security service and Touraine flags, they ascended rue Nationale.

They held a banner reading "Let's defend our heritage, homage to Saint-Martin" and chanted slogans such as "Saint-Martin come back, Touraine is in danger" and "our pride is our identity".