France bans far-right groups linked to student's death

PARIS - Agence France-Presse

A photo taken on May 8, 2011 shows members of "Jeunesses Nationalistes Révolutionnaires" (JNR) movement taking part in a French far-right groups rally to denounce "globalization," around the Madeleine church in Paris. Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, spokesperson of the French government announced on July 10, 2013 after the Cabinet meeting that French radical far-right movement Troisieme Voie and its security squad the Revolutionary Nationalist Youth were dissolved by the French government, following th

France on Wednesday banned three far-right groups implicated in the death last month of a left-wing student in a Paris street brawl.

Government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said the three groups -- the Third Way, the Revolutionary Nationalist Youth (JNR) and the "Desire to Dream" association -- had been officially dissolved.

Five people linked with the groups are facing charges over the June 6 death of 18-year-old Clement Meric, a student at the prestigious Sciences-Po university, who died after a clash in a busy Paris shopping area between skinheads and left-wing activists.

Serge Ayoub, the founder of the Third Way and JNR, told AFP the decision was an "abuse of power" and said he would appeal it before the Council of State, France's top administrative court.