Blue, white and red flags, Nazi salutes, “monkey cries” and display of French identity papers. During the (non) meeting between OM and OL, some of the Lyon supporters (once again) stood out for their racist and anti-Semitic provocations. Identified as “Mezza Lyon”, this group of hooligans is not its “first time”. For 20 MinutesSébastien Louis, doctor in contemporary history, specialist in radical supporterism in Europe and author of the book Ultras the other protagonists of footballreturned to the history of its members, the link between Lyon and the extreme right, in order to analyze the events of last Sunday evening.
Sébastien Louis, doctor in contemporary history, specialist in radical supporterism in Europe – © giovanni ambrosio
What can you say about the provocations from certain Lyon supporters?
They are not surprising. They are, unfortunately, part of the deleterious atmosphere around the meetings between Olympique de Marseille and Olympique Lyonnais, because the radical supporters of the two camps have strongly divergent political opinions. For many years, supporters of Lyon have challenged the French citizenship of those of Marseille, by taking out French flags, their identity cards and making fascist salutes.
Who are these Lyon supporters?
They are part of the Mezza Lyon group which generally sits in the southern bend and which has been active since 2006. At the time, they maintained close links with the GUD and the Social Bastion. It brings together a few dozen individuals, without being a truly structured group. They are not present at all the matches but they are there for the most important ones, when there are “at risk” supporters or “political enemies”. There are also bridges between certain ultras and the Mezza, especially when it comes to attacking opponents, which makes their number more significant. We thus remember the very violent clashes with the ultras of Saint-Etienne, Tottenham, or even Morocco [après un match contre la France].
These individuals are rather young, without distinctive signs. It is therefore difficult to recognize them. However, we know the Totenkopf [tête de mort, symbole de la 3e division des SS] as a symbol, and the Serbian flag, a country considered by nationalists as an example of struggle to defend their identity and their nation.
What is the link between the far right and football supporters?
Almost all hooligans in France are close to the extreme right. They have a common vision of society with this political side: the defense of a territory and violence, a legitimate instrument according to them. There are a lot of bridges between the two. More and more today, far-right identity movements are inspired by hooliganism. Moreover, these groups of hooligans allow these political groups to express their violence in a “legitimized” framework.
Then, hooliganism, which was more English-style, was transformed to turn more towards hooliganism of Russian-style specialists, that is to say, combat sports with training behind, without consumption behind. in a desire to be prepared to do as much harm as possible.
The goal of these individuals is to provoke, to be seen and to get people talking about them – as the media have been doing since Sunday.
How did these nationalist hooligans find their place in Lyon?
Lyon is no coincidence, because it is the capital of the political extreme right. You should know that the issue of hooliganism has been present there for a very long time. Problems of violence are recurrent, as in other French stadiums, but they appeared quite early in this city, notably with the birth of Bad Gones, in 1987, which included among its members very radical individuals, most of whom were then boneheads (neo-Nazi skinheads). From the beginning, people held up banners with neo-Nazi symbols, such as the “S” in “Gones” replaced by that of the SS, Celtic crosses, national Gones fanzines with neo-Nazi propaganda. Then, at the end of the 1990s, the group underwent a transformation and calmed down. The Bad Gones were recognized as legitimate contacts by the club and the most extremist individuals decided to move towards the south turn. This is where we find the hooligans from Mezza Lyon.
What is happening with the supporters is therefore not a reflection of our society but is something much more locally anchored. There are then territories “to hold”. Old Lyon and the stadium are part of it. Anyone familiar with the stands knows that the tendency of radical supporters in Lyon is clearly towards the extreme right, whether ultras or hooligans.
Can we imagine no longer seeing this kind of behavior in stadiums?
It’s complicated for different reasons. The first is that the stadium gives a real media platform to these hooligans. Then, even if they are banned from stadiums, they remain very active outside. It is then more difficult to act. The answer is then judicial. But this requires real commitment, particularly on the part of the prefecture.
A perfect stadium is not possible. In France, we have few extremist symbols compared to other countries, but we have small groups active on the sidelines of matches and who use the stadium as a place where they will be seen and where they can recruit. Afterwards, we want a politically correct stadium on the one hand but on the other, the far right is well established and can express itself in the rest of society, such as in the media. The question is therefore complex in a context where the extreme right is at the gates of power and where the current majority can sometimes align itself with certain themes for purely electoral reasons.
