France bans 'white power' group over Chirac attack

France has outlawed the white supremacist splinter group whose membership included the man accused of trying to assassinate President Jacques Chirac last month.

Unité Radicale has refused to distance itself from the alleged would-be killer, Maxime Brunerie, 25, though French authorities are convinced it played no part in his botched attempt on 14 July.

The group, which preaches white revolution against "Jewish control" and the "mongrelisation" of Western society, was banned yesterday under a 1936 law framed to combat Nazism and fascism. Leaders of Unité Radicale said they would re-form under a new name.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the Interior Minister, proposed the ban to the French cabinet, saying UR "propagated ideas which encourage hatred, violence and racial discrimination". His proposal was accepted unanimously. President Chirac chaired the meeting and made no comment.

Fabrice Robert, one of the two leaders of the group, said later: "We will start again, with a bigger movement, open and within the law ... You can ban an organisation, but you cannot ban people and ideas."

In a written defence against the ban, the movement said it did not fall foul of the 1936 law because it was not a "combat group or private militia". The French security services are also said to have argued against the ban. They said it was easier to control known organisations than to deal with a plethora of clandestine groups.

Mr Sarkozy believed a movement that refused to condemn an apparent attempt by one of its members to kill the head of state could no longer be tolerated. Mr Brunerie was seized by by-standers as he allegedly tried to shoot President Chirac with a low-calibre hunting rifle during the Bastille Day military parade on the Champs Elysées. He managed to fire one shot.

Last week he was placed under formal investigation for "attempted assassination". He told the examining magistrate in a private hearing that he regretted his action, which he described as a "suicide attempt" and "non-political".

Unité Radicale was formed three years ago when Jean-Marie Le Pen's far-right political party, the National Front, split into rival movements. UR has always remained close to the National Republican Movement, formed by Mr Le Pen's former lieutenant, Bruno Megrét. In rallies, pamphlets and on its internet site, the group campaigns against "apatride" (trans-national) capital and trades unions and the "mongrel Republic". Apatride has long been a far-right code word for alleged international, Jewish influence.

Mr Sarkozy said the group's ideology was based on "exaltation of the white race", adding: "Its anti-Semitism is no pretence." A score of groups have been banned under the 1936 law since the Second World War.