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.
That is the primary time PNAT has taken on a case linked to the “incel” movement, a web-based network of men motivated to interact in violence against women who they consider 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 arrange a number of crimes against people.”
A source near the investigation confirmed French media reports that the suspect was arrested near a faculty within the Saint-Etienne region in central France and that the person, who was carrying two knives, was suspected of planning to attack women.
Ideologies based on distrust and hatred towards women have been gaining space within the mainstream worldwide over the past decade through online channels, especially social media platforms.