French secret services are keeping an eye on a sect whose
members believe the world will end Oct. 24, a newspaper reported.
For the past two months, followers of the Neo-Phare apocalyptic sect have been
entrenched in a semi-abandoned chalet in Nantes, and some observers fear they
might turn to group suicide, said the Paris newspaper Le Figaro.
Sect members have stocked up on provisions to "prepare themselves for the
last trip to Venus," the newspaper reported. They are convinced that the
end of the world will be ushered in by a cataclysm on earth or the landing of
flying saucers.
Their 36-year-old leader, known as Arnaud, apparently learned of this
revelation in an esoteric text of Andrè Bouguenac, who uses language inspired
by cabala and numerology.
Arnaud's revelation was regarded with skepticism by the rest of the sect
members until last Sept. 11, when the leader claimed that he saw "a sign
of the end of time" in the terrorist attacks.
A former sect member known as Anouk told the Parisian newspaper: "Inspired
by the Bible, Arnaud wants to create the divine family of the apostles of the
new world, born from the final cataclysm."
Some relatives of Arnaud's followers appealed to the Association for the
Defense of Families against Sects, which in turn alerted the government.
General concern over the possibility of a collective suicide is based on recent
actions by some followers of the group. In July one of them threw himself under
a moving car, and two others leapt from the top of Clermont Castle.