‘Foreigners out’ event: Dijon mayor to ban new extreme-right gathering

A social event organised by an extreme-right group in the eastern city of Dijon is set to be banned by the local mayor. 

Hélix Dijon, a local extremist group, were planning to host an event called ‘Auslânder Raus’ (‘foreigners out’ in German, a popular expression used by far-right groups) on Saturday (July 20).

The group shared an invitation to the event on social media, which showed a white, blond boy holding a surfboard, and had the secondary caption ‘White Boy Summer’ written in English. 

This is also a slogan used by far-right groups, particularly in the United States.

The invitation had no location attached, however the city’s socialist mayor François Rebsamen announced on social media the meeting would be banned. 

For its part, the city's town hall announced on X (formerly Twitter) that a ban would be implemented on the meeting when a location was attached to it. 

“Racism is not an opinion, but a crime,” it said. 

A similar event, also labelled as an ‘Ausländer Raus’ evening, was set to be held in Rouen last month by a different far-right organisation.

Local authorities attempted to ban the event, however judges ruled that it could go ahead, as they could not sufficiently conclude if the slogan had far-right connotations. 

Organisers, however, later cancelled it after locals protested the event.

Read more: French election: Is it correct to call Le Pen and Bardella far-right?

Calls on prefecture to widen ban 

The lack of precise location of the group’s meetings has led to some demands for the Côte-d’Or prefecture to get involved. 

A ban on the meeting from the Dijon mayor would only affect events within the city itself, and there are reports that the group holds some meetings in nearby communes, where such a ban would not affect people gathering. 

The local Solidaires 21 organisation believes the group is hosting meetings in the nearby Saint-Apollinaire commune, which would not be affected by a Dijon ban, however the mayor said he did not know about the existence of such events.

The prefecture told local media Actu Côte d’Or that it was up to the local municipality to ban such meetings when the official location is known. 

In cases where the location is not clear, the prefecture can enact a wider departmental ban and “as soon as it has concrete information, it will ban the event,” said prefect Franck Robine. 

The Ligue des Droits de l’Homme (Human Rights league) is also planning to submit a formal complaint against the Hélix Dijon group for inciting racial hatred. 

Read more: New French MP is first to be ‘fiché-S’: what does this mean?