News (World)

French Prime Minister orders extreme-right group dissolved after student’s murder

French Prime Minister orders extreme-right group dissolved after student’s murder

PARIS — French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Saturday directed Interior Minister Manuel Valls to take immediate steps to dissolve the extreme right group known as Revolutionary Nationalist Youth, believed to have neo-nazi ties.

The group has been linked to the death of 18-year-old gay rights activist Clement Meric.

Clement Meric

Meric, a student at the prestigious Sciences-Po university, was killed during a clash with the group after emerging from a Paris shop last Wednesday.

A French Interior Ministry official told LGBTQ Nation on Monday that the Revolutionary Nationalist Youth is the militant wing of a far-right group called the Third Way.

The spokesman for Interior Minister Manuel Valls acknowledged that Revolutionary Nationalist Youth’s leader, Serge Ayoub, had been questioned by Parisian police but is not considered a suspect. Ayoub denied Saturday that the group had anything to do with Meric’s murder.

Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre, spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office, told LGBTQ Nation that five people detained in Meric’s death went before a judge on Saturday and the main suspect, named Esteban, was being investigated on suspicion of murder.

The five suspects are aged between 19 and 32 and include one woman, and several are known to have links to far-right groups, said Thibault-Lecuivre.

Esteban, who is in his 20’s, and suspected of having dealt the fatal blow to Meric, told investigators he did not intend to kill.

Thibault-Lecuivre said Esteban is a known “skinhead.”

Don't forget to share:

Support vital LGBTQ+ journalism

Reader contributions help keep LGBTQ Nation free, so that queer people get the news they need, with stories that mainstream media often leaves out. Can you contribute today?

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated

‘The Fosters’ brings TV a rare depiction of lesbian couple as heads of household

Previous article

Poll finds 58 percent of Calif. voters now support legalizing same-sex marriage

Next article