Demonstration against the far right in Strasbourg, June 15, 2024 in Bas-Rhin (AFP/Frederick FLORIN)
Tens of thousands of opponents of the far right are marching across France on Saturday at the call of unions, associations and the New Popular Front, the union of left-wing parties shaken by accusations of “purge” in within LFI.
From Bayonne to Nice, to Vannes, to Reims or to Puy-en-Velay, anti-RN France is mobilizing against the prospect of a victory for the far right in the legislative elections with the hypothesis of an entry of the head of the National Rally Jordan Bardella in Matignon.
“I thought I was never going to see the far right come to power and now it could happen,” fears Florence David, 60, a trainer who marches in Paris.
“The dissolution of the National Assembly is a political coup which is not entirely responsible and which is very political, and some people in France do not agree at all, hence the “the importance of coming together and showing that we are together and that it is not at all inevitable that the RN becomes the first government force”, underlines Charlotte Regnier, social worker, 29 years old, in Marseille.
In the capital, thousands of demonstrators – young people, families with children, retirees – began to pound the streets after 2 p.m., in a good-natured atmosphere, shouting “youth piss off the National Front”.
“No neighborhood for fascists, no fascists in our neighborhoods,” says a demonstrator. “The situation is serious, we have to get involved,” explains Gauvin Chêne, a 20-year-old student. “I am here to defend women’s rights, equality between peoples, ecology too,” says Marie Chandel, 58, employed in National Education.
Demonstration against the far right in Strasbourg, June 15, 2024 in Bas-Rhin (AFP/Frederick FLORIN)
Sophie Binet, boss of the CGT, hopes for “a popular tidal wave”.
According to police sources, 300 to 350,000 people are expected, including 50,000 to 100,000 in the capital. 21,000 police officers and gendarmes are mobilized.
In the provinces, at 1:00 p.m., 98 gatherings were recorded, according to a police source.
Five unions CFDT, CGT, UNSA, FSU and Solidaires called for mobilization. FO, CFE-CGC and CFTC highlight their apoliticism so as not to call for demonstrations.
– “Irresponsible decisions” –
The left-wing leaders were at the head of the procession in Paris. Without a word on the deep differences which are shaking the New Popular Front, after the decision of La France Insoumise (LFI) not to reinvest several figures opposed to Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Danièle Obono (2nd g), Mathilde Pano (LFI) (5th g), Ian Brossat (PCF) (2nd d) and Najat Vallaud-Belkacem parade with a banner “March for a New Popular Front” during a demonstration against the far right, June 15, 2024 in Paris (AFP/Sameer Al-Doumy)
“We are ready, we have made (the union), no one believed in it”, “we are going to give you back the flame. And not that of the National Front, that one we are going to extinguish”, launched the boss of Ecologists Marine Tondelier.
“There are differences between us but when the essential is at stake, we have no right to do anything other than come together,” added the boss of the Socialists, Olivier Faure.
“We are in the process of writing history,” assured Mathilde Panot, close to Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
In Amiens, François Ruffin still urged “not to return to resentment”, but “to gain height”. “Jean-Luc Mélenchon is fabulous when he withdraws,” he tackled.
Discontent within LFI broke out on Friday evening.
A close friend of the tribune, Adrien Quatennens, although sentenced in 2022 to four months of suspended imprisonment for domestic violence, was reinvested in the North.
On the other hand, Danielle Simonnet, Raquel Garrido and Alexis Corbière, historical figures of the movement opposed to the Mélenchonist line, were brutally dismissed and replaced by other candidates unknown to the general public.
“A purge”, denounced the first, the second accusing Jean-Luc Mélenchon of “settling his scores”.
Marine Tondelier (Les Ecologistes) and the first secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure during a demonstration against the far right in Paris, June 15, 2024 (AFP/Zakaria ABDELKAFI)
“Extremely shocked”, Marine Tondelier summoned the authorities of her EELV party and Olivier Faure is trying to “settle the scandalous eviction” of LFI deputies.
Another potential subject of discord within the New Popular Front, the former socialist president of the Republic François Hollande, favorable to the union of the left against the extreme right, announced his candidacy for the legislative elections in Corrèze.
Mr. Macron mocked the internal differences on the program on the left, seeing it as a “spectacle of great incoherence”: “We are among the crazy, it’s not serious.”
– May 1, 2002 –
“The Republic is in danger from these engineers of chaos who advocate division,” said Jordan Bardella on Friday campaigning in Loiret, targeting “friends of Mr. Mélenchon”.
The president of the RN, who is targeting Matignon at only 28 years old, judged that only “two political parties” will be able to “compose a government”: his own, favorite in the polls, and this new union of the left.
Jordan Bardella visiting a farm near Chuelles, June 14, 2024 in Loiret (AFP/Guillaume SOUVANT)
Mr. Bardella denounced on Friday “extremely dangerous” calls for “insurrection”, while saying he was “very attached to freedom of expression”.
Since Sunday, demonstrations and gatherings have taken place almost daily, particularly in the regions.
While the Euro football started Friday evening in Germany, the striker of the French team Marcus Thuram called for “fighting so that the RN does not pass”, a rare position for a top athlete level.
Demonstration against the far right in Montpellier, June 15, 2024 in Hérault (AFP/Pascal GUYOT)
On May 1, 2002, Jean-Marie Le Pen’s qualification for the second round of the presidential election brought together nearly a million demonstrators; today it is the “shock of the Europeans” with a cumulative score of far right of 37.8% and the prospect of an “RN at the gates of power” which pushes opponents into the streets.
On the side of the classic right, the Paris court caused yet another twist by invalidating on Friday the decision of the national office of the Les Républicains (LR) party, which had excluded its president Eric Ciotti, in favor of an alliance with the RN.
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© 2024 AFP
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