“We do not live in fear”: in Paris, a film room targeted by the far right
By Living Samuel
Published on
“Dealer killer. Government accomplice”. Several dozen individuals gathered on Saturday December 10, 2022, at the entrance to safer drug consumption roomrue Ambroise Paré, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. Fake blood and syringes were dumped outside the doors of the establishment. An action led by Argosa still confidential collective which does not hide its ideological links with the extreme right.
“Fascist Threats”
Arrived on the scene shortly before 8 a.m., the activists intended to fight “against the transformation of France into a narco-state” by carrying out a “symbolic closure of the filming room”. On Twitter, Argos says it is fighting against these “enclaves for self-destruction” denouncing the opening of an establishment in Paris and another in Strasbourg. Coincidentally, the Alsatian consumption room is called… Argos.
If the punch operation of this collective did not give rise to scuffles, it ignored strong reactions. Alexandra Cordebard, mayor of the 10th arrondissement denounced “violence” and “fascist threats”.
“We will not give up in the face of this intimidation,” added Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris. The collective of residents of Lariboisière-Gare du Nord – historically headwind against this consumption room – also condemned the “very aggressive demonstration” of Argos.
“We don’t live in fear”
In the first line, the Gaia association who manages the place, tempers: “For us, it’s a communication operation completely disconnected from the field. They left before the opening and we opened only 10 minutes late,” explains Victor Detrez, deputy director of the association.
And to ensure: “We do not live in fear. It was noisy, but nothing was done against us or our premises”. The association therefore indicates that at this stage, it does not guarantee the security of the room.
Although Argos’ agitprop objectively occurred without violence, the collective relied on a warrior vocabulary. In its presentation video published in October 2022, Argos evokes a “spiritual war” in France, and invites “the natives” to forge “their bodies and their minds” against the backdrop of boxing videos. According street pressthe movement would have been born on the ashes of Génération identitaire, an ultra-right association dissolved in the Council of Ministers in March 2021.
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