The leader of the extremist Antifa group, who is on France’s national security watch list, has been elected to the National Assembly as a member of the left-wing New Popular Front coalition.
Raphaël Arnault, official spokesman for the Lyon-based antifa group Jeune Garde Antifascist (Young Anti-Fascist Guard), will be elected to the French Parliament for the 1st constituency of Vaucluse in Provence after defeating Rally National populist candidate Catherine Jaouen with 54.98 percent of the vote in the second round of legislative elections on Sunday. Figaro Reports.
Arnault’s candidacy, which was backed by the far-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Insubordination (LFI) party (part of the New Popular Front coalition), sparked controversy after it emerged that the Antifa militant was on an “S-file”, or national security watchlist from the French government.
The list typically includes terrorists and other people who pose a threat to national security, but also includes violent environmental activists and members of extremist political groups such as Antifa, of which Arnault is a member.
Having an S file does not indicate a criminal conviction and does not necessarily mean state surveillance, meaning there are no restrictions on Arnault’s entry into the National Assembly.
France’s far-left puts Antifa activists on national security watch list ahead of early electionshttps://t.co/BX9YMNQdqs
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 19, 2024
In addition to being on a watch list, Arnault’s Antifa group has also been blamed for an anti-Semitic attack on the Paris subway in May, in which a 15-year-old boy claimed he was assaulted for being a “supposed Jew” and a “Zionist.”
The Young Antifascist Guard denies that any violence took place, claiming it was simply a “brief altercation” with members of an “anti-Palestinian far-right” group. However, Le Figlo report Eight members of an antifa group were indicted on June 27 for allegedly assaulting subway passengers.
Arnault has also been accused of a “violent attack” by a young right-wing activist, who claims that Arnault and another member of the “Young Anti-Fascist Guard” “hit” him with a helmet.
A new member of the French National Assembly has been questioned by police on suspicion of defending terrorism after he reportedly described Hamas as a “resistance” movement following the October 7 terror attacks on Israel.
‘No future’: French Jews express fear after far-left election victoryhttps://t.co/sudcFEkD1F
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 8, 2024
