Gérald Darmanin announced on Wednesday that he was going to “propose to the President of the Republic” the dissolution of the GUD (Groupe union defense), an ultra-right student union created in the 1970s and reactivated in 2022.
“It’s a very friendly group with a lot of people from the National Rally. […] These are people who think that there is white supremacy, who make extremely serious anti-Semitic remarks,” added the Minister of the Interior on BFMTV, specifying that he has been working on this issue for “nine months”. “I didn’t wait for this legislative election,” he continued.
A union born in 1968
With its black flags marked with the Celtic cross, the student union, a historic “brand” of the French extreme right born in 1968 at the Parisian University of Assas, remains active. Never dissolved but dormant since 2017, the GUD announced its return at the end of 2022.
He has since acted as a link between ultra-right movements, like a “sports weekend” organized last spring at Saint-Cloud park (Hauts-de-Seine) which brought together dozens of activists. . Known for its violent actions, the GUD regularly returns to the spotlight. Loïk Le Priol, former “gudard”, is the main suspect in the murder in March 2021 of former Argentine rugby international Federico Martin Aramburu.
Last week, four ultra-right activists were sentenced for their participation in a homophobic attack in Paris while they were “celebrating” the RN’s victory in the European elections. Among them was Gabriel Loustau, 23, a figure in the GUD and son of Axel Loustau, former activist in this student organization, former RN elected official and formerly close to Marine Le Pen. Frédéric Châtillon, ex-president of the GUD, is also a long-time friend of Marine Le Pen.
Small groups – since dissolved – such as Bastion Social (2017-2019) or Zouaves Paris (2018-2022), were created by GUD activists. Among them, Marc de Caqueray-Valmenier, alleged leader of the Zouaves, convicted and imprisoned several times in recent years.