Far-right pundit Zemmour condemns video of supporters 'shooting' at Macron

Far-right presidential candiadte Eric Zemmour has condemned a video in which two individuals claiming to be his supporters practice shooting an imagined target of French President Emmanuel Macron and elected far-left officials.

Suppoters of far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour filmed firing shots at images of French President Emmanuel Macron and far-left politicians. © Mediapart

The videos, revealed on Twitter by the Young Guard – an anti-fascist group – and by Mediapart, show a man wearing a "Ben voyons" cap, a turn of phrase used by Eric Zemmour meaning "let's see" that has become a slogan by his fans, who were filmed practicing with a sniper rifle.

"Who are we going to beat up now? The young leftists, the young communists, the young mental black people?", the young man laughs, before firing a large calibre gun. 

The man, feigning surprise, looks into the rifle's sight and exclaims – "Ah, Emmanuel Macron" – and fires a second shot.

#ExtrêmeDroite Des soutiens de Zemmour menacent dans une vidéo des membres de LFI, Macron et les « bougnoules »

🔎 Par @seb_bourdon https://t.co/E45Sl8g7TI

— Mediapart (@Mediapart) December 20, 2021

Far-left politicians also targeted

Zemmour responded to the videos in a statement: "You are not part of my supporters, nor my militants, and even less of my friends. I condemn in advance anything you do in my name during my campaign. I don't want your support or your help."

In another video shot at the same location, another young man targets former France Insoumise spokesperson Raquel Garrido.

He explains that he is "practising hunting wild Garrido" before firing and then firing a second time, referring to her husband, LFI MP Alexis Corbière.

In the same sequence, the man openly imagines himself shooting at "antifas and leftists", as well as people of North African origin. "There are Algerian and Moroccan flags, I saw them there, so we'll rush to shoot," he says.

According to the newspaper Libération, which had access to his private Instagram account, until recently he presented himself as "military" and "Catholic".

Judicial investigation has been opened

The Paris prosecutor's office says an investigation had been opened by the National Centre for Combating Online Hate for "death threats and incitement to racial hatred". 

In his statement, Eric Zemmour expressed indignation at a "pitiful spectacle" committed by "a miserable handful" of "idiots", drawing a parallel with "hooligans", who "don't go to the stadium for the beauty of the game, but for the violence".

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LFI MP Alexis Corbière and Raquel Garrido had announced on Tuesday that they had filed a complaint for "death threats and provocation to commit a crime".

"Today, the entire online "fachosphere" is targeting us one after the other, with a clear risk of taking action," Raquel Garrido said at a press conference in Marseille.

Zemmour responded to the two far-left politicians by inviting them to do "the same thing [as him]: definitively denounce the antifas who harass me" – who are, according to him, in their "thousands".