- Around 640,000 people in France, including 250,000 in Paris, took to the streets in organised demonstrations against the extreme right.
- The CGT union held 182 meetings nationwide.
- According to the CGT, further demonstrations are planned for Sunday
In Paris and other major cities and towns, people responded to calls from trade unions and other organizations to protest against Marine Le Pen’s right-wing nationalist Rassemblement National (RN) party, which could potentially take government responsibility in the parliamentary elections scheduled at short notice.
More than 20,000 police officers are deployed. On the sidelines of several protest marches, there were incidents of property damage and confrontations between demonstrators and the police, as media reported. There are also plans to demonstrate on Sunday.
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Tens of thousands have taken to the streets of France to express their discontent.
imago images/Lafargue Rafael
Top politicians of the left-wing parties march with
“Either it’s the extreme right, or it’s us,” said Mathilde Panot, the leader of France’s Left Party, at the head of the Paris demonstration in view of the parliamentary elections. Like Panot, numerous other leading politicians from left-wing parties, who had presented a left-wing alliance for the election the day before, joined the demonstration in the capital.
“You don’t have to vote RN to love France” and “Never again” were also written on banners at demonstrations in Marseille. “Against the brown plague, put paving stones at the ballot box” read a banner in Paris.
In response to the defeat of his liberal forces in the European elections and the landslide victory of the right-wing nationalists, President Emmanuel Macron unexpectedly dissolved the National Assembly last Sunday and announced new elections for June 30 and July 7. The strong performance of the RN in the European elections cannot automatically be transferred to the parliamentary elections, as France has a majority voting system. The representative of a constituency who receives the most votes in the second round of the runoff election is elected to parliament.