France is moving to ban a far-right party of mostly ultra-traditional Catholics, because of its antisemitism.

France's interior minister said he had ordered his department to dissolve Civitas.

Gerald Darmanin said he had asked the ministry "to proceed to the dissolution" of the party, "firmly" condemning antisemitic remarks made during its summer seminar last month.

At a meeting on July 30, controversial author Pierre Hillard told his audience that, before the French Revolution of 1789, Jews and other religious minorities could not become French citizens because they were "heretics".

Hillard said that "maybe we should go back to how things were before 1789. Several Jewish organisations and French politicians condemned the remarks.

In a post on Twitter, Darmanin said: "There is no room for anti-Semitism in our country. I firmly condemn these despicable comments and am taking the matter to the national prosecutor.”

Civitas, which claims to have 165,000 members, achieved political party status in 2016, and has been receiving public funding since. Belgian Alain Escada is the party chairman.

The party have fought against the legalisation of same-sex marriage in 2013 and is anti-immigration. They also backed far right politician Eric Zemmour in last year's presidential election.

Its members also sometimes disrupt public events when they involve non-heterosexual performers, and the party is the target of sexual discrimination complaints over alleged homophobia.