Gérald Darmanin announced on Monday August 7 that he wanted to dissolve the fundamentalist Catholic organization Civitas. “I asked my services to instruct the dissolution of Civitas”, wrote the Minister of the Interior on X (ex-Twitter), relaying with his message comments made by Pierre Hillard, essayist follower of conspiracy theories, July 30 in Pontmain (Mayenne), during the association’s summer school.
“Anti-Semitism has no place in our country. I strongly condemn these ignominious remarks and seize the public prosecutor, ”adds the minister on the social network. In the remarks in question, Pierre Hillard declares that “the naturalization of the Jews in 1791 opens the way to immigration”, adding, as a wish: “Obviously, if we want to restore the laws of Catholicity, and that we make traditional Catholicism the state religion, perhaps we should return to the situation before 1789.”
Requested by Le Monde, the Ministry of the Interior confirms that “the investigation is still in progress”, entrusted to the direction of public freedoms and legal affairs, before a letter is sent to Civitas “in the coming weeks” , listing the “grievances justifying a dissolution”. “We have against this organization a whole bunch of elements, actions or remarks, contrary to the values of the Republic, justifies the entourage of the minister. And not just these last words. »
“Gérald Darmanin gives a clear answer to the questioning of the “rebellious” and the Licra [International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism]. Anti-Semitism will be punished, ”welcomed Jean-Luc Mélenchon on the X social network.
Close to the Catholic extreme right
Earlier in the day, the leader of the deputies of her party, Mathilde Panot, had distributed a letter addressed to the public prosecutor of Paris, on behalf of her political group, to inform the magistrate of “public defamatory remarks [ which] mobilize false information in order to stigmatize and harm French people on the grounds of their religion”.
The Civitas Institute, close to the Catholic far right, was recognized in 2016 as eligible for the financing of political parties. The movement, which supported Eric Zemmour’s candidacy for the 2022 presidential election, has organized several controversial actions recently.
Several dozen demonstrators close to the fundamentalist Catholic organization had prevented the holding of a concert on May 13 at the Saint-Cornély church in Carnac. The Lorient prosecutor’s office had opened an investigation for intentional violence and obstruction of freedom of expression.
In April, the Stop Homophobia and Mousse associations also filed a complaint against Civitas for discrimination on the basis of gender identity, after the cancellation of a concert by singer Bilal Hassani in a church in eastern France. In February, Alain Escada, president of Civitas, also called on supporters of the movement to meet in Saint-Brévin (Loire-Atlantique) to demonstrate against the project for a reception center for asylum seekers.