A far-left pro-migrant activist has been issued a Europe-wide arrest warrant over an incident in May in which he allegedly attacked a French gendarme at the French-Italian border.
The incident took place on May 15th during a larger altercation between far-left activists and gendarmes at a three-day pro-migrant rally held in the town of Clavière on the Italian side of the border.
The gendarmes were mobilised on the French side of the border and were attacked, with one officer being injured in the forearm, according to a report from the newspaper Le Parisien.
The far-left militant wanted in connection to the attack is believed to live in Italy and, according to broadcaster BFMTV, has been positively identified by authorities who later put out an EU-wide arrest warrant for him.
In April, two other pro-migrant activists were on trial after being arrested along the border of France and Italy. Ther were prosecuted for aiding illegal migration after helping a group of Afghan migrants enter France from Italy in November.
Thibault C., 28, and 31-year-old Alexandre W. were later convicted of “helping the entry into France of people in an irregular situation” and handed sentenced of two months in prison, suspended.
According to the newspaper Le Figaro, the migrants who the pair helped across the border were also issued deportation orders.
Following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, French President Emmanuel Macron made it clear that he did not want to see a repeat of the 2015 migrant crisis, saying that he wanted to see an EU initiative to protect against “significant irregular migratory flows”.
While some have called for countries across western Europe to take in large numbers of Afghan migrants, a French think tank warned that the more Afghans France takes in, the more likely criminality will rise, citing statistics claiming Afghans were more prone to criminality.