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France’s recent riots were fueled by an “ultra-left” faction of eco-warriors who lives an off-the-grid lifestyle in an idyllic village deep in the French countryside, authorities say.
Officials in France accuse the extremist group, led by radical Hodei Ciarra Docampo, of helping incite the unrest that tore the country apart last month, leaving more than 1,000 police and protesters injured, leading to 2,700 arrests, and the looting of at least 3,000 stores on one day alone.
Ciarra Docampo is personally suspected in the arson attack on the historic city hall in Limoges that gutted the 19th-century landmark — sparking viral images that horrified the world.
He has been charged with attempted murder of a public official — punishable by life in prison — after officials said videos showed him fueling the fire by throwing a blazing trash can into the city hall.
French authorities are now focusing their investigation on Ciarra Docampo’s family and hangers-on centered in the remote village of Bussiere-Boffy in the Haute-Vienne region of western France, some 200 miles from Paris.
The minuscule hamlet of less than 300 people is 50 miles of winding country roads from the nearest train station.
Ciarra Docampo’s father, Fernando Ramirez, is a Spanish-born anarchist with connections to the Basque separatist movement, according to French court papers.
He and his wife began allowing people with no fixed address to park their vans and even set up yurts on their land for years, to the consternation of many locals.
“They don’t ask; they do what they want. That’s the problem with those people,” former Bussiere-Boffy mayor Jean-Paul Barriere told the Wall Street Journal.
More coverage of the riots plaguing France’s streets
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- Europe’s smaller museums on guard after Louvre heist, string of thefts
- Violent Paris protests draw 70K people as Molotov cocktails hurled at cops, US and Israeli flags burned
- France heads into third weekend of protests as youth-led rallies erupt across Europe
The family is known for their eccentric anti-development and anti-technology causes, from campaigning against new airports to resisting the installation of smart electric meters, which they say are tools of government control that emit harmful electromagnetic waves.
Ramirez was convicted earlier this year of setting fire to trucks used to deploy France’s new smart electric meters.
Ciarra Docampo and his mother were also investigated over the arson, according to documents.
Other acts of local vandalism allegedly linked to the group include arson attacks on television antennas in the region, which left millions without communications.
A slogan calling for a ban on 5G internet and referencing “the voice of the wind and the song of the birds” was spray-painted nearby.
Local officials have accused Ramirez of being part of the Basque terror group ETA, which killed more than 800 people during its 60-year campaign for an independent Basque nation separate from France and Spain.
He has denied the allegations, but his DNA was found at the scene of both arson attacks.
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“I don’t like control of the population,” Ramirez said, defending the attacks while denying his own involvement, according to police interrogation transcripts.
“It’s a cry for help; it’s a message for the population. For people to hear the message, it has to come to this,” he said.
Not all locals are opposed to the Ciarra Docampos.
“This isn’t a criminal family. They have always supported travelers or young people who arrive suddenly and need a place to stay,” neighbor Paul Lacoste said.
“You can set up a dwelling, remove it, and the land automatically returns to how it was,” he added.
