Breton Revolutionary Army - Recruitment

Recruitment

The characteristics of Emgrann and the ARB’s recruitment pool serve to explain the rather lack of preparedness of its attacks over the years. While in the 70s many recruits came from universities and parts of the Breton elite, today most if not all are mainly drawn from either urban and unemployed youth, those living on welfare and those on limited and short term employment. This non-specialized recruitment illustrates, according to French authorities, the amateur nature of the often botched bombings of the ARB. On November 25, 1999, police managed to retrieve two and a half kilograms of dynamite in Saint Herblain : The timer had malfunctioned and was out of order. On November 29, the same year, in Rennes, police diffused a bomb with a nearby sign indicating the presence of an ARB explosive device. However, the more successful attacks of the ARB, such as the 1998 bombing of Belfort city Hall and the Plévin attack seem to counter that claim. Police theorize that this divergence in preparedness and specialization may be explained by the association, at times, of the ARB and their Basque counterparts, the ETA.