French police uncover neo-Nazi cell accused of plot to hit Jewish, Muslim places of worship

AP/Claude Paris

A police car is stopped in front of the synagogue during a visit of the Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, in Marseille, southern France, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016

The suspects were charged for making, transferring explosives and conspiring to commit acts of terror

French police discovered and apprehended members of a neo-Nazi cell accused of planning to attack Jewish or Muslim houses of worship, legal sources told AFP on Tuesday.

Five members of the group, who were “close in ideology to the neo-Nazi movement” were charged between September and May over the alleged plot, a source close to the investigation said.

“The investigation suggested they were developing an ill-defined plot to carry out an attack, likely to target a place of worship,” the judicial source said, giving no details on motives or specific targets.

Police in the southeastern city of Grenoble first arrested a man on weapons charges in September 2018. The investigation led them to the four other suspects, two of them minors.

Anti-terrorism officers continued the investigation in January, charging the suspects with terror-related offenses, including manufacturing and transporting explosive devices and participating in a terrorist conspiracy.

Since 2015, France has experienced a number of devastating attacks carried out by jihadists against its civilian population. In recent months, reports have highlighted attack plots originating from far-right extremist groups.

In November, French police arrested six people over an alleged plot to assassinate President Emmanuel Macron.

In June 2018, 13 people with links to the radical Action des Forces Operationnelles (Operational Forces Action) group were arrested by anti-terrorist police over an alleged plot to attack Muslims.

Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s most popular far-right faction, told i24NEWS in February that her movement is the only one to request the “eradication of Islamic fundamentalism,” and therefore protect French Jews.

Taking credit for being the first one to blow the whistle on the rise of Islamic anti-Semitism, she blasted France’s government’s inaction on the topic.

However, critics of international far-right movements assert that intolerance toward Muslims and xenophobic policies are indicative of political environments that could become (or are already) hostile to Jews.