TO SPITE A CURFEW

by Vincent

Around a hundred neo-Nazis and hooligans marched through Lyon on the evening of Monday, October 19, in violation of the curfew, defying the city while shouting racist and neo-fascist slogans. This show of force by the movement took place under the passive gaze of the police. —Liberation, October 20, 2026

under cover of darkness
they slither through 
small winding streets of lyon

their pieces slowly gathering 
until their manblock is formed

their clothing all black
their faces all white
nothing about them reads 

shades of grey

at the helm 
the celtic cross crudely painted
over the french flag

flanked by militants
marching down victor hugo street
the irony likely lost on them

as chants of intolerance 
despicable calls for ethnic purity
echo through shuttered storefronts and empty stoops

despite the curfew in effect
they remain unaffected
by the forces of order

not an officer to be seen

unburdened by the strike of a baton
explosions of grenades
or tears of gas and despair

no these men march unmet
by the munitions of the rule of law
almost as if afforded this window

not just to be heard
not just to be seen
but to be feared

the message loud and clear

among those filmed
a familiar face emerges
renaud mannheim 

known agitator
leader of the group blood and honor
proud neo-nazi

his entourage of reproductions
duplicates of him
a biomass of copy pasted identitarians

in one voice their chants
demand the swift removal 
of those unlike them

our streets they yell
france wake up they shout
fists in the air they throw 

remigration their euphemism 
giving oxygen 
to another false narrative

propagated by the very government
that stands to benefit
quietly thriving in their chaos

Author's note: In France, since August high school students throughout the country have been voicing concerns about the conditions of their buildings, overcrowding in classrooms, unreasonably heavy workloads, lack of teachers, issues with mandatory online platforms that allow them to apply to college, and unsanitary conditions in which there is no toilet paper or soap, toilets don't work, mold is visible, and rats have been seen... In the last few weeks, they reached a tipping point and began organizing walkouts (especially in less affluent neighborhoods), which have since morphed into large-scale protests that were declared to the authorities in advance. Rather than attempt to address their real concerns or offer solutions, the government responded by changing the approved routes at the last minute and deploying tens of thousands of militarized police, which has led to minors being dismembered, disfigured, unlawfully jailed, gassed, kettled, and beaten. As in many situations that involve civil unrest, unrelated groups have taken advantage of the chaos to loot and vandalize, but the media has falsely linked these activities to the protestors and progressives despite the fact that the evidence and footage does not support these claims. Instead of reporting on the scale and rejection of police-led violence and their disproportionate response, many news outlets have focused on the looting, while perpetuating a false narrative that left-leaning political leaders are behind the destruction. However, police action has overwhelmingly been directed at protestors, while leaving businesses completely vulnerable to bad actors. On the night of the nazi march, nearly 300 chanting men roamed freely, without a single police officer confronting them. 

Vincent was a Portland-based poet and advocate for social justice who left the United States in 2025 because of the the tr*mp regime. His work has been featured in The New Verse News, Poets Reading the News, Writers Resist, and Words and Whispers to name a few publications. He currently lives in France, where he is deeply saddened by a similar political climate taking shape. He has seen firsthand some of the injustice referenced in his work and he hopes that his writing will encourage people to do their research, think critically, and vote intelligently.