Lyon: thousands of people demonstrate in turn against the National Rally

“RN in power, goodbye freedom”, several thousand people demonstrated on Sunday in Lyon to “block the far right” as part of the weekend’s inter-union mobilizations. The day after the processions which brought together 250,000 demonstrators throughout France according to the authorities, 640,000 according to the CGT, Lyonnais of all profiles and all ages pounded the streets chanting “everyone hates Bardella”.

The demonstration, which brought together between 9,600 people according to the prefecture and 15,000 according to the CGT, was made up of young people, families and elderly people, gathered behind union banners.

“The popular front did us a lot of good by managing to unite in four days”

Florent Laval, 46, engineer, came from Bourgoin-Jallieu (Isère) without his three teenagers who told him “it’s no use”: “It won’t change anything, but we’re here to count ourselves, to tell ourselves that maybe it’s not that lost,” he wants to believe. “I would prefer that we fight to support ideas, particularly environmentalist ones, than against the RN, that’s how we would be able to mobilize,” he says.

“Fuck Jordan, get out of there”, “the wind is blowing, the fascists are trembling”, “Democratic rearmament”, we could read on the signs. Marie, a 63-year-old from Lyon, shows a sign “the daronnes annoy the RN” adding: “that’s exactly it”. Her friend Marianne, also 63, lives above the identity premises in old Lyon and has seen them a lot in recent days: “they are totally uninhibited,” she regrets.

“The popular front did us a lot of good by managing to unite in four days,” she said. Flags of unions, political parties and LGBT associations were waved along the route. Coming with his wife Anne-Marie, Christian, 56, considers it “important to show that all French people are not extreme right. The silent majority, we believe that they will stupidly follow but when opinions become dangerous for the democracy, we can mobilize.”