Bruno Retailleau announces the dissolution of the Young Guard and Lyon Populaire

Two organizations dissolved and a happy Beauvau boss. In a message posted on X, this Thursday, June 12, the Minister of the Interior welcomed "that the organizations La Jeune Garde and Lyon Populaire were dissolved this morning in the Council of Ministers." The Minister of the Interior has thus completed the adversarial procedure that he launched at the end of April against the anti-fascist collective and the far-right group.

The man who had insisted on his desire to "restore order" upon his arrival at Place Beauvau, had also announced similar proceedings against the group Urgence Palestine. Unlike the other two organizations, the decree dissolving the pro-Palestinian collective was not presented to the Council of Ministers this Thursday. In May, the minister had criticized these three "de facto groups for provoking violent acts against people, provocations that often have consequences."

Following the announcement by the president of the Republicans, the LFI deputy for Vaucluse, Raphaël Arnault, a leading figure and spokesperson for the Young Guard, lamented: "While we have just experienced, in just a few weeks, a series of attacks, assaults and even terrorist attacks by the extreme right, the Bayrou government has announced the dissolution of the Young Guard at the direct request of the RN." The elected official, whose election had caused controversy due to his S record , also announced on X that his collective would fight " before the Council of State" .

When Bruno Retailleau announced his intention to dissolve the Young Guard, the Avignon MP assured that the organisation was " an indispensable anti-fascist tool in the current period" , the 30-year-old elected official adding that "The extreme right [had] understood this well and [was] trying to destroy [it]".

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the Insoumis (Rebellious) movement, also reacted to this announcement. In a message posted on X, he deemed the dissolution of the Young Guard a "terrible signal of political nonsense." He continued: "Minister Retailleau is aligning himself with his far-right networks, which are increasing the number of violent attacks in the country. By allowing this to happen, Bayrou is assuming a position of encouragement to this movement."

The Young Guard was founded in January 2018 in the hope of "breathing new life" into the anti-fascist movement in Lyon, and has since developed local branches: in Strasbourg in 2019, in Paris in 2020, and in Lille and Montpellier in 2021. Its style clashed with the "antifa" tradition of hidden activism. Instead, the organization embraced a more inclusive struggle and public speaking, with an uncovered face, even on TV sets.

Updated at 1:42 p.m., with Mélenchon's reaction