A far-right neo-Nazi group planned attacks against Moroccan football fans when Morocco played against France in the World Cup semi-finals last year.
The far-right group sought to attack Moroccan fans in France near the Champs Elysee, “when they planned to meet in small groups to avoid creating suspicion,” according to Jeune Afrique.
The group also planned to carry out heinous attacks against Morocco’s supporters at the end of the game, the same outlet reported.
The report stressed that a far-right activist, who is a former soldier, launched the anti-Morocco campaign through a group chat on encrypted messaging app Telegram.
Police identified a photo on one of the far-right group’s members’ phone, showing the Arc de Triomphe and depicting anti-Moroccan insults like “F*** Morocco Paris is ours.”
“What the soldier did not know is that he was already under police surveillance and that the supposedly secret and encrypted groups on which [the group] exchanged messages are scrutinized by several investigators,” Jeune Afrique said.
This is not the first time neo-Nazi and far-right groups have been linked to similar hateful acts.
In April, converging reports said that several screenshots from encrypted conversations documented anti-Muslm hatred and terrorism apologia by members of a far-right group in France.
The conversations, which included incitements of violent actions against Muslims and mosque vandalism, were attributed to the neo-Nazi group FR Deter.
Leftist political party France Insoumise (France Unbowed) condemned the far-right group’s actions, calling such maneuvers “extremely disturbing.”
“The revelations about Telegram loops ‘FR Deter’ are extremely disturbing,” the party said in April. “Far-right activists appear to have used these loops to plan at least one attack on our fellow Muslims when breaking the Ramadan fast.”
