00:00In the French Republic, no violence is legitimate.
00:03Now those are the words of Francis President Emmanuel Macron
00:05as he is today meet with government officials
00:07to discuss the fight against violent ultra or extreme groups.
00:11That meeting organised after the death of the radical far-right activist
00:15Comte de Ronck, killed ten days ago amid confrontation
00:18between far-left and far-right activists.
00:21We're going to cross then live to the Elysee Palace
00:23to talk to our senior reporter James Andre who joins us from there.
00:26James, tell us then what this meeting, if you like, is designed to achieve, can you?
00:32Yes, the meeting is designed to achieve a strategy to face this situation
00:36where we have this rising political violence in France
00:39with indeed what happened to Comte de Ronck in Lyon.
00:43And indeed, well, the president has decided to meet up
00:46with the interior minister, Laurent Nunez, as well as the heads of the DGSE,
00:51which is the interior intelligence service here in France
00:55as well as services from the prime minister
00:57in order to carve out a strategy,
01:00a strategy that we are being told should be a global one
01:02and a non-partisan one,
01:04basically wanting to show that the state is both fighting
01:08on the extreme left side of the spectrum
01:11and also the extreme right.
01:13With indeed Emmanuel Macron making it very, very clear
01:15that there is no place for militias on French soil.
01:20And of course, James, behind the scenes for a long time now,
01:23much work has been going on to identify these far right
01:27and far left groups.
01:31Yes, absolutely.
01:32If you take Lyon, for example,
01:33indeed there has been a long history of violence
01:35between extreme right and extreme left
01:37that has indeed culminated with Comte de Ronck.
01:41But what we are seeing also is a political radicalisation
01:45around these recent events
01:47with France unbounded, Jean-Luc MĂ©lenchon specifically,
01:50who gave a press conference recently
01:52in which he said that he was still indeed standing
01:54by these anti-fascist movements,
01:57though he does, of course, condemn what happened
01:59with Comte de Ronck explaining that in his view,
02:02when there is violence to that extent,
02:04well, indeed, that is absolutely unacceptable
02:08and that it is dishonouring for those who commit it.
02:12But he also said that, indeed,
02:13he does not want to cut himself from any of his bases.
02:16So, of course, this is a very important debate
02:18here in France.
02:19And when it comes to the police services,
02:21of course, they are watching all the groups
02:24from which this violence could originate,
02:27be it, for example, ultra-football supporters.
02:30That is the case in Lyon.
02:31And there is a question also of having groups dissolved
02:34during this meeting, the decisions taken.
02:36Some of these groups that are being watched closely,
02:38for example, in Montpellier and Albi,
02:41where two of these groups could very well see
02:43the decision taken of a dissolution today
02:46in this meeting at the Elysee.
02:48James, thanks very much.
02:49James Andre, our senior reporter,
02:51talking to us from the Elysee Palace.
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