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PayPal acts over French far-right group’s plan to thwart migrant rescue boats in the Mediterranean

A French far-right group’s plan to raise money to spend on chartering a boat to block migrant rescue expeditions in the Mediterranean has been halted after PayPal came under increasing pressure from outraged members of the public.

Published: 14 June 2017 17:35 CEST

PayPal acts over French far-right group's plan to thwart migrant rescue boats in the Mediterranean

Photo: AFP

The extreme-right group Generation Identitaire (Generation Identity), the youth branch of the nativist Bloc Identitaire movement, which describes its mission as “defending the identity of France and Europe” had launched an appeal to raise funds in early May.

Their aim was to “charter a boat and sail in to the Mediterranean to thwart NGO ships” that regularly save stranded migrants trying to make it across the sea to Europe.

The group claimed it would help any migrants they came across who were in distress before returning them to the African coastline.

The operation named “Defend Europe” that was backed by other far-right identitarian groups around Europe had raised around €65,000 in contributions, €15,000 more than its initial target.

But the campaign did not go unnoticed and web users began to kick up a fuss online, notably urging the internet payment site PayPal, through which the funds were being collected, to block the group’s account.

An online petition was also launched calling for a ban on such fundraising.

The Twitter hashtag #StopDefendEuropePayPal was launched and calls were made to boycott the system.

The pressure eventually took its toll and PayPal reacted by blocking contributions to the Generation Identitaire account.

PayPal’s statement to the Rue89 news website read: “Our policy is to prevent our services being used by companies whose activities promote hatred, violence or racial intolerance.”

Generation Identitaire told the site that their account had been blocked but they would be able to recuperate a part of the contributions.

The group, which has clashed with police during anti-migrant protests at the French-Italian border (see pics below), has planned to carry on and intends to open another fund on another website.

Generation Identitaire caused anger in the northern town of Lille last year when authorities allowed them to open a bar called The Citadel in the city centre.

It led to protests by anti-fascist groups (see pic below).

A member of the UK Border Force (R) helps people on a beach in Dungeness

A member of the UK Border Force (R) helps people on a beach in Dungeness on the south-east coast of England, on November 24, 2021, after they were rescued while crossing the English Channel. The past three years have seen a significant rise in attempted Channel crossings by migrants, despite warnings of the dangers in the busy shipping lane between northern France and southern England. Ben STANSALL / AFP

He called for a “balanced” accord that would offer “a real solution” for dealing with highly organised trafficking networks often spread across France, Belgium, Germany and other countries.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex will write to his British counterpart Boris Johnson on Tuesday to outline the agreement, Darmanin added.

The deal could include ways to ensure unaccompanied minors can safely reach Britain to rejoin family, instead of putting themselves at the mercy of traffickers.

But he rejected proposals that would see Britain unilaterally force migrant boats back to France, saying it was against international maritime law and would put people’s lives in danger.

“We cannot accept this practice,” he said.

Earlier on Monday Darmanin urged Britain on Monday to open a legal route for asylum seekers in order to prevent
people risking their lives by taking small boats across the Channel to England.

“Great Britain needs to open up a legal immigration route” because “at the moment anyone who wants to ask for asylum has no other choice but to cross the Channel,” Darmanin said in an interview with the RMC/BFM media group.

French officials have already suggested that British immigration officials process asylum requests in northern France from migrants camped out around the major ports on France’s coast.

Darmanin convened fellow ministers responsible for immigration from Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium on Sunday for talks about the Channel migrant crisis, four days after an unprecedented accident saw 27 people drown in the busy sea lane.

They met without Britain which was excluded after a row last week between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Darmanin again blamed Britain for the presence of thousands of migrants in northern France, alleging that more relaxed labour practices on the other side of the Channel were creating a “pull effect” tempting migrants across in hope of finding work.

Many migrants around Calais also say they want to travel to the UK because they speak some English already, or have family and friends in the country.

Around 26,000 people have sailed from France to England this year, leading to severe pressure on the UK government which had vowed to reduce migration after pushing through Britain’s departure from the European Union.

Johnson has suggested sending police and border agents to patrol alongside their French counterparts on the beaches of northern France — something rejected by Paris in the past as an infringement on sovereignty.

More controversially, he proposed sending back all migrants who land in England, a move which Johnson claimed would save “thousands of lives by fundamentally breaking the business model of the criminal gangs”.

France received 80,000 asylum requests in 2020 compared with 27,000 in the UK.

Investigations into last Wednesday’s accident continue, with French police giving no details officially about the circumstances or the identities of the victims.

A total of 17 men, seven women and three minors died, with migrants living along the coast telling AFP that the deceased were mostly Iraqis, Iranians and Afghans.

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