The New Popular Front leftist alliance formed to confront the “extreme right” in the snap elections in France have nominated a radical “anti-fascist” activist who is reportedly on the government’s national security watchlist as a candidate for the National Assembly
Raphaël Arnault, the official spokesman of the Lyon Antifa collective “Jeune Garde Antifasciste (Young Antifascist Guard), has been nominated by the far-left La France Insoumise (LFI) party of Jean-Luc Mélenchon to represent the first constituency of Vaucluse in Provence in the National Assembly as part of the New Popular Front electoral alliance comprised of LFI, the Socialists, the green Écologistes party, and the French Communist Party for the snap election called by President Emmanuel Macron earlier this month.
The nomination of Arnault turned heads in France, given his Antifa street activism, with his group reportedly engaging in violence against alleged members of the “far-right”. According to L’Incorrect Arnault’s radicalism has even drawn the eye of the state, with the activist having an ‘S File’ for his “proximity to the radical ultra-left movement and susceptibility to engaging in violent actions” and being considered a “dangerous” person.
An ‘S File’ represents the highest level of threat posed by an individual, typically reserved for organised criminals and Islamist terrorists. In addition to being on the national security watch list, the French magazine claimed to have audio of Arnault threatening to kill feminist activist Alice Cordier.
“This buffoon Alice Cordier who is dividing up the Kurds, I have some advice to give her: let her come there, to the Kurds. We’re going to put a bullet in his head. That’s all that’s going to happen,” the man alleged to be Arnault said on the recording published by L’Incorrect.
Arnault’s placement on the national security watch list was also confirmed by the Le Figaro newspaper of record in France, citing a “well-informed source”. The paper previously reported that a right-wing activist alleged he was a victim of a “violent attack” by Arnault and another member of the Young Guard. “They fell on me two against one and beat me with a helmet,” the young man claimed.
More recently, Arnault was summoned by the police over allegedly making a defence of terrorism after describing Hamas terrorists as a “resistance” movement after the October 7th terror attacks which saw over 1,200 people killed in Israel and hundreds more taken hostage.
The decision by the New Popular Front to nominate Arnault for the National Assembly was criticised by Catherine Jaouen, the candidate for the race for the populist right-wing National Rally party, saying that “political violence has no place in Avignon” while calling on “all citizens” of the constituency to “stand up against this trend of violence.”
Meanwhile, Mélenchon’s far-left LFI has also come under criticism after nominating Adrien Quatennens for the New Popular Front. The campaign was short-lived for Quatennens — a former National Assembly deputy — with fierce backlash to his nomination over his 2022 conviction of domestic abuse against his wife forcing him to bow out of the race.
“I no longer intend for my candidacy to be used against France Insoumise and the New Popular Front to harm them at a time when all energy must be mobilized to beat the extreme right,” Quatennens said over the weekend.