The Breton Revolutionary Army (, ARB; , TDB) is an illegal armed organization that is part of the Breton nationalist movement in the Brittany region of France.
History
Origins of the conflict
Until the end of the 15th century, Brittany had managed to remain independent of its French and English neighbours. However, in December 1491, after two consecutive civil wars opposing the French Crown to an alliance of French Princes (among them Brittany) and foreign powers, the latter were defeated and the young Breton duchess, Anne, was married to the young King Charles VIII, thereby tying Brittany to France.
The 1974 bombing in Roc Tredudon marks the first of approximately 200 terrorist acts committed by the FLB-ARB on foreign soil, both inside and outside Brittany.
The frequency of attacks increased between 1993 and 1996. A two-year truce followed. Attacks resumed on 30 October 1998 with the partial destruction of the Belfort city hall, home town of the then Interior Minister Jean-Pierre Chevènement. Other subsequent targets included symbols of the French government such as administrative offices, police precincts and utility installations, as well as the home towns of then-Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. The latter attack, which occurred on 18 June 1999, was a result of the refusal, two days before, by the then French President Jacques Chirac to ratify the European Charter on Regional and Minority Languages. This incident served to confirm suspicions about the nature of the relationship between the ETA and the Breton separatists. As the subsequent investigation revealed, ARB members had been hosting Basque separatists in Brittany prior to the heist. Spanish authorities even suspect that some ETA members may at times come to Brittany temporarily in search of a safe haven.
The explosion did not ignite a fire but the building itself sustained severe damage and its roof was blown off. Gael Roblin, the main spokesman of Emgann, was also arrested for his theoretical justification of previous ARB bombings.
Emgann ("Fight")
Emgann is believed to provide political support to the ARB. Its affiliation with the latter has been repeatedly denied over the years by Emgann, which considers itself a pacifist group, although it openly supports the ARB's methods and goals. It nonetheless publishes the ARB's messages and articles and substantial evidence has been produced by French authorities to support claims of the suspected intimate and complicit relationship between the two groups. Several Emgann members have been apprehended in connection with several attacks attributed to the ARB.