France to put 13 on trial over alleged Macron plot

Thirteen people from far-right political circles have been ordered to stand trial for allegedly plotting to attack President Emmanuel Macron, according to legal sources.

Published: 9 November 2022 16:44 CET

France to put 13 on trial over alleged Macron plot

French President Emmanuel Macron commemorating the centenary of the First World War, in Pompey, northern France, on November 5, 2018. (Photo by Etienne LAURENT / POOL / AFP)

A total of 11 men and two women who were part of a Facebook group called the “Barjols” (Crazies) are suspected of plotting attacks on Macron and members of his government, as well as mosques and migrants.

Jean-Pierre Bouyer, a retired man, is suspected of being the leader and had allegedly discussed attacking Macron in public with a ceramic knife which could not be detected in advance by security services.

Police swooped on the group and made arrests in 2018 after Bouyer drove to Moselle in eastern France where Macron was attending a memorial on the centenary of the end of the World War I.

Investigating magistrates decided to order a trial from January 12 to February 2 next year, according to their written decision which was seen by AFP.

The suspects face charges of terrorist conspiracy and preparing terrorist acts which carry sentences of up to 30 years in prison.

“It has been established that violent plans were being drawn up by members of the Barjols groups… with intent to cause serious public order disturbances through intimidation and terror,” the magistrates wrote.

Firstly “by carrying out violent acts against the head of state and members of the government in order to overthrow public institutions by force and also by targeting symbolic locations such as mosques or specific groups such as migrants in order to influence the policies of the government.”

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The French Jewish community, the third largest in the world, has for months been on edge in the face of a growing number of attacks and desecrations of memorials.

“National police in Rouen neutralised early this morning an armed individual who clearly wanted to set fire to the city’s synagogue,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Police responded at 6.45 am to reports of “fire near the synagogue”, a police source said.

A source close to the case told AFP the man “was armed with a knife and an iron bar, he approached police, who fired. The individual died”.

“It is not only the Jewish community that is affected. It is the entire city of Rouen that is bruised and in shock,” Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol wrote on X.

He made clear there were no other victims other than the attacker.

Two separate investigations have been opened, one into the fire at the synagogue and another into the circumstances of the death of the individual killed by the police, Rouen prosecutors said.

Such an investigation by France’s police inspectorate general is automatic whenever an individual is killed by the police.

The man threatened a police officer with a knife and the latter used his service weapon, said the Rouen prosecutor.

The dead man was not immediately identified, a police source said.

Asked by AFP, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said that it is currently assessing whether it will take up the case.

France has the largest Jewish community of any country after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe’s largest Muslim community.

There have been tensions in France in the wake of the October 7th attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel, followed by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Red hand graffiti was painted onto France’s Holocaust Memorial earlier this week, prompted anger including from President Emmanuel Macron who condemned “odious anti-Semitism”.

“Attempting to burn a synagogue is an attempt to intimidate all Jews. Once again, there is an attempt to impose a climate of terror on the Jews of our country. Combating anti-Semitism means defending the Republic,” Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF). wrote on X.

France was hit from 2015 by a spate of Islamist attacks that also hit Jewish targets. There have been isolated attacks in recent months and France’s security alert remains at its highest level.