Former French Foreign Legion chief faces jail after Calais protest
A former commander of the French Foreign Legion is facing a year behind bars after participating in a protest aginst the number or refugees being held in a camp in Calais.
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Christian Piquemal, who led the Legion between 1994 and 1999 was arrested after addressing a banned meeting of supporters of Pediga, an extreme right-wing anti-immigrant movement, based in Germany, but with a branch in France.
Piquemal, addressing the crowd of around 150 protesters, said he wanted to prevent the “decline of his country”. He will appear in court on Monday.
Piquemal was today charged with 'participation in an unlawful assembly. Four others that were with him are accused of possessing banned weapons including a taseergun.
All five men will face up to a year in prison when they appear in court on Monday.
Pegida had announced a protest against the migrant and refugee situation in Calais, where thousands of refugees are living in a camp called the Jungle.
Calais authorities had banned the Pegida [Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident] protest, but the group took to the streets anyway.
Also on Saturday, in a relatively rare attempt to reach England by sea, four migrants were rescued from their sinking boat in the Channel thanks to a fifth migrant who made it to shore and alerted rescuers.
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