Hours after Bardella’s National Rally (RN) party scored big in the European election this month, four men in Paris assaulted a teenager at whom they hurled homophobic and transphobic slurs

The four, who were found guilty and sentenced after the attack, told police they were RN party members and members of the violent far-right GUD group, the Paris prosecutor’s office said

While the interior ministry says it does not have consolidated numbers on such incidents, they offer a snapshot of what rights groups say are a rising number of assaults motivated by race, religion, homophobia, transphobia and political allegiance during campaigning for France’s snap election

The RN says it has no links to violent far-right and neo-Nazi groups. It did not reply to a request for comment about the spate of incidents since the European election[…]
“We’ll smash you, Bardella will win, and it starts now,” Green party activist Olivier Richard recounted the two young attackers as saying. They headbutted him in the face in Bordeaux as he carried pamphlets for the left-wing New Popular Front[…]
“They were sure they were going to win and could do what they wanted. This situation is terrifying”[…]
Political tensions have long intensified ahead of votes in France. But rights groups and activists say something has shifted this time, with violent individuals holding far-right sympathies seemingly feeling emboldened[…]
Michael Colborne, researcher for Bellingcat on transnational far-right networks, said that if the RN was to take power, young men could feel empowered to ‘take matters into their own hands’”[…]
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has warned of the potential for “extremely strong tensions”. He announced this week he had shut a number of far-right groups, including the GUD[…]
Reuters spoke with four activists and politicians with the NFP left-wing alliance who have been physically or verbally assaulted by RN supporters while campaigning ahead of the vote on Sunday