The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, announced Wednesday morning the dissolution of this ultra-right group in the Council of Ministers. Made up of around thirty members, it was formed in 2022.
Division Martel is no more. The dissolution of this small ultra-right group was recorded on Wednesday December 6 in the Council of Ministers. As specified by the Minister of the Interior on X, the dissolution was carried out “in accordance with the instructions of the President of the Republic”. And Gérald Darmanin recalls that “this small group incites violence and racial hatred” and that it therefore has “no place in our Republic”. During the press conference which followed the Council of Ministers this Wednesday, government spokesperson Olivier Véran pointed the finger at a group which “promotes racial hatred, particularly against immigrants and populations seen as Muslim” and who would not hesitate to exploit the death of Thomas, which occurred in Crépol last November.
Who are the members of Division Martel? When reading the decree, we learn that the group was originally called Legionnaires Paris. But a name referring to “the battle of Poitiers in the year 732 during which Charles Martel put an end to the Arab invasion” was subsequently finally preferred to it in September 2022. Formed in the second half of the he year 2022, Division Martel would be made up of around thirty members, mainly domiciled in Île-de-France. Some of its members also reside in other departments such as Aisne, Isère and Yonne. Among them, there would be former members of the Zouaves Paris group.
The Division Martel de facto group was dissolved this morning in the Council of Ministers, in accordance with the instructions of the President of the Republic. As detailed in the decree that I presented, this small group incites violence and racial hatred. He has no place pic.twitter.com/Y7ItFDcqgp
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) December 6, 2023
The decree further specifies that the group, which has a white Celtic cross on a black background as its emblem, encourages its members “to lead, through violence, a fight against antifa and people of immigrant origin or presumed Muslims”. Division Martel is also known for organizing “combat training” and does not hesitate to promote “the use of bladed weapons in confrontations”. Among the group’s latest feats of arms, the arrest of two of its members on November 26. The authorities suspect them of having participated in the coordination of the “punitive expedition” organized in the district of Romans-sur-Isère where the people accused of being responsible for Thomas’ death came from.