UNI: Despite the neo-Nazi excesses of the pseudo-student union, the unwavering support of Bruno Retailleau

"If you're fed up with far-left entryism in our universities, join the UNI," urges one of the two activists in the UNI Lyon video, published on Instagram on August 27. As the start of the school year approaches, the so-called union and true far-right group is trying to reinvent itself, despite the numerous scandals exposed last school year.

Background. In February, the creation of a card game with anti-Semitic imagery by the Strasbourg UNI branch sparked outrage. An image of one of the members of this division also circulated, showing him performing a Nazi salute.

Faced with the media coverage of this affair, the national leaders, who had "firmly condemned these acts" , decided to close the local section, which has since been relaunched by Generation Z activists.

On March 7, Mediapart also revealed photos of the UNI national delegate performing a neo-Nazi "Kühnen" salute, an alternative to the Hitler salute. According to the investigative website, the person concerned has not commented on the matter.

Far from being isolated, these revelations did not prevent Bruno Retailleau from publicly showing his support for the UNI in June 2025. During an interview with the union magazine Action Universitaire , the Minister of the Interior declared: "I want to salute the UNI activists, who, often alone against everyone, fight this politicization (of universities). Against sectarian thinking, you embody free thought. Hold firm!"

This is not surprising from the very right-wing Minister of the Interior, who in January claimed to share the "fight" of Alice Cordier , leader of Némésis, a xenophobic and identity-based group claiming to be "feminist."

The man who made the fight against anti-Semitism "a national priority" in a press release dated August 22nd, seems to ignore the "epidemic of Nazi salutes" within the union, as StreetPress headlined in February 2025.

In 2024, a UNI Toulouse activist reportedly posted a photo of himself reproducing the "Kühnen" salute on the social network BeReal, according to Mediapart. "Fuck their third-world country ," he allegedly added in one of the photos, wearing a UNI sweater. According to the union, he was expelled from the movement "nearly six months ago." The activist, who refused to answer the newspaper's questions, reportedly continues to repost UNI content on his Instagram profile.

Anti-Semitic and racist acts are increasing within the ranks of the union in Bordeaux, Reims, and Caen. In Tours, an activist and youth delegate from Indre-et-Loire of the Union of the Right (UDR) for the Republic (UDR) posted a photo last June of several black PSG supporters, comparing them to "monkeys, the zoo, all that." Excluded from the party the day after the act, the UNI reportedly did the same, although it has not publicly responded.

"Exceptional incidents," according to the UNI national office. The organization reportedly responded to Mediapart: " The proportion of irresponsible hotheads among us is ridiculously low, something we are proud of."

Faced with the new information revealed by the investigative website, Bruno Retailleau, questioned again on Wednesday, August 27, declined to comment. The minister has never hidden his closeness to the union, and also welcomes Pierre Vitali, a former UNI university councilor at Versailles, into his office.