Controversial Event 'Foreigners Outside' Canceled in Dijon
A small identity group, Helix-Dijon, has canceled its planned 'Foreigners Outside' evening in Dijon after the event was banned by both the city and the prefecture. The event, originally scheduled for Saturday, faced significant political and media attention, leading to its prohibition.
In several messages posted on the Helix-Dijon movement's X and Facebook accounts, the group criticized the Dijon town hall for being 'under the orders of the anti-fascists.' The group maintained that the slogan 'Ausländer raus' ('Foreigners outside' in German), which was featured on the event's invitation and previously used in Rouen, was a call by French and European youth to address growing insecurity.
Official Response and Legal Actions
The Dijon town hall and the Côte-d'Or prefecture both issued orders on Wednesday to ban the evening, which was titled 'White Boy Summer' in English. The city's decree stated that the event had a 'clearly discriminatory character,' with the slogan 'Ausländer raus' being labeled as 'clearly xenophobic.'
François Rebsamen, the mayor of Dijon and a former socialist minister, declared that 'racism and xenophobia are not opinions but crimes,' emphasizing that such events have no place in Dijon. The prefecture echoed this sentiment, denouncing the event as a 'provocation to hatred and discrimination.'
Public and Legal Backlash
The Human Rights League announced plans to file a complaint for incitement to racial hatred against the event, describing it as 'openly racist.' Similarly, the union organization Solidaires Côte-d'Or 21 condemned the planned evening as 'odious.'
The slogan 'Ausländer raus' gained further notoriety after being appropriated by young people who sang it to the techno tune of 'L'Amour toujours' by DJ Gigi D'Agostino. In Rouen, a similar event was also banned in June, with the socialist mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol issuing a municipal decree to prevent it. Although the Rouen administrative court initially sided with the organizers, they eventually decided not to proceed with the event.
