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Police probing conspiracy angle

By Vaiju Naravane

Paris July 15. Maxime Brunerie, the 25-year-old extreme-right militant who attempted to assassinate the French President, Jacques Chirac, during Sunday's Bastille Day celebrations in Paris belonged to a far right fringe party known as Radical Unity.

Police said Mr. Brunerie had been placed under psychiatric care since he "was completely incoherent, making no sense at all." However, he did tell police he intended to commit suicide after killing the President.

Mr. Brunerie, who pulled a rifle from a guitar case firing a shot at Mr. Chirac minutes after he passed by in an open motorcade, was overpowered by bystanders whose cries alerted the police. When he fired the shot, Brunerie was 50 metres from the Presidential motorcade near the Arc de Triomphe, at the top of the avenue Champs Elysees.

Police are attempting to establish whether the 25-year-old was acting alone or was part of a larger conspiracy.

Some of his right-wing associates said he had spoken several times of his desire to kill the French President but was never taken seriously.

Police are still questioning two far right militants whom the would-be killer visited on July 13, the eve of the attempted murder. They are also on the lookout for another close friend with whom he had a phone conversation.

Informed French sources said Mr. Brunerie had belonged to a gang of skinheads that indulged in football hooliganism and racist attacks. The defeat of the extreme right in France has given rise to frustration among its members. Neither the extreme right National Front led by Jean Marie Le Pen nor its splinter group, the MNR, won a single seat in the French Parliament. "They called for a vote in for Le Pen thinking the far right would win some MPs a certain legitimacy. They failed and this has made them more agitated, more willing to radicalise, take street action," police sources said.

Mr. Brunerie, a student and former chauffeur, was known for his neo-Nazi past and had taken part in violent street demonstrations since 1997.

Police searching his home found extreme right-wing tracts and hate material.

He had posted a message on an English-language website urging readers to watch television on Sunday.

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