An 18-year-old French man who claimed affiliation with the misogynist “incel” (involuntary celibate) movement has been arrested and placed under formal investigation on suspicion of planning attacks targeting women, France’s National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) said on Wednesday.
This is the first time PNAT has taken on a case linked to the “incel” movement, an online network of men motivated to engage in violence against women who they believe unjustly reject their sexual or romantic advances.
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On Tuesday, the PNAT had confirmed it had opened a judicial investigation “against a young man aged 18, claiming to be a member of the incel movement,” adding he was being investigated for “associating with terrorist criminals to prepare one or more crimes against people.”
A source close to the investigation confirmed French media reports that the suspect was arrested near a school in the Saint-Etienne region in central France and that the man, who was carrying two knives, was suspected of planning to attack women.
Ideologies based on distrust and hatred towards women have been gaining space in the mainstream worldwide over the past decade through online channels, especially social media platforms.