Police clashed with demonstrators today as hundreds of thousands massed across France to protest the rise of the far-right ahead of the upcoming elections.
Some 21,000 police and paramilitary gendarmes were deployed at rallies across the country today as authorities prepared for as many as half a million to attend rallies nationwide.
Demonstrations have taken place since support for the anti-immigration National Rally (RN) party made strides in last week’s European Parliament elections, with students, labour unions and rights groups gathering to push back. At least 150 marches were expected in cities including Paris, Marseille, Toulouse, Lyon and Lille.
In the capital, police said 75,000 set off from Place de La Republique at midday, through the Bastille square to Place de la Nation – all artefacts of the country’s bloody history of revolt and revolution against tyrannical powers.
The CGT union claimed a quarter of a million marched in Paris, with 640,000 taking to the streets across the country. Police put the national figure closer to 270,000.
Bottles were reportedly thrown at police before officers responded by firing tear gas into the crowds in several cities as defiant protestors vowed to take a stand to ‘preserve a country of human rights, freedom, and tolerance’.
Demonstrators react as they are enveloped by teargas during an anti far-right rally in Rennes, western France
People gather during an anti far-right rally after Macron called legislative elections, in Paris on Saturday
A man holds flares during an anti far-right rally in Toulouse on Saturday
Police stand near a damaged bus shelter during a rally in Paris, Saturday, June 15
Demonstrators including French activist Jean-Baptiste Redde (Bottom L), with a placard reading ‘New Popular Front against RN’, stand on the Triumph of the Republic statue on Place de la Nation during a protest on Saturday
People take part in a demonstration against the French far right party National Rally following the results of the European elections, in Paris on Saturday
![A protestor holds a sign that reads 'No to [the National Rally] / No to Macron' during a demonstration in Paris today](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/06/15/20/86167565-0-image-a-3_1718481075986.jpg)
A protestor holds a sign that reads ‘No to [the National Rally] / No to Macron’ during a demonstration in Paris today
A protestor holds a sign that reads ‘Racist neo-nazi’ during a march in the capital on June 15
Protestors wave Palestinian flags from the Triumph of the Republic statue on Place de la Nation in Paris
From Bayonne in the southwest to Nice in the southeast, from Vannes in the west to Reims in the east, demonstrators mobilised against the prospect of a victory for the far right in the legislative elections.
Incumbent President Emmanuel Macron announced the snap elections after his Renaissance Party was dealt a shock blow in the European elections. The first round is scheduled for June 30, less than three weeks away.
Jordan Bardella’s National Rally was forecast to win but fall short of an absolute majority in the first opinion poll published since Macron’s announcement, on Monday.
If that were to happen, Bardella could become prime minister. The RN enjoyed a healthy lead in recent election polls.
‘I thought I would never see the far right come to power and now it could happen,’ said Florence David, 60, who took part in the Paris protest.
‘No need to vote RN to love France,’ was among the slogans used.
Others brought placards that read ‘No to RN / No to Macron’, reflecting a mood of animosity towards both the far-right and Macron’s centrist politics after seven years in power.
France’s left has put up a united front against the far-right, bringing together a ‘New Popular Front’ coalition – but has also vowed a ‘total break’ from Macron’s style of politics in the centre.
The protesters held placards reading ‘Liberty for all, Equality for all and Fraternity with all’ and ‘Let’s break frontiers, documents for all, no to the immigration bill.’ Some chanted ‘Free Palestine, viva Palestina,’ and wore keffiyeh scarves.
Among them was Nour Cekar, a 16 year-old high school student from the Paris region, who has French and Algerian parents and wears the hijab.
‘To me, the extreme right is a danger because it supports an ideology based on the fear of the other, whereas we are all French citizens despite our differences,’ she told The Associated Press.
Cekar said she will vote for the left-wing coalition because ‘it is the only political party that addresses racism and Islamophobia.’
‘I fear the rise of the National Rally because I am afraid that they will ban the hijab in name of women’s liberty. I am a woman and I should be able to decide what I want to wear. I am a free woman,’ she said, adding that she is insulted on social media and in the streets on a daily basis because of her headscarf.
Protesters kick away a teargas canister during a rally in Paris, Saturday, June 15
Protestors claiming allegiance with the Nouveau Front Populaire wave flares in Paris
Protesters walk past a small fire that was set during a rally in Paris on Saturday
‘RN = fascists’ reads a sign held in Paris during a demonstration against the far-right party
Signs (L to R) read ‘The youth always annoys the National Front’ and ‘Popular Front against the far-right’
The CGT union claimed a quarter of a million marched in Paris, with 640,000 taking to the streets across the country. Police put the national figure closer to 270,000
Associations called for a protest against the RN following the French president Emmanuel Macron announcement on June 9 to dissolve the National Assembly and to call for new elections
Protestors take part in a march opposing the rise of the far-right in France on June 15
A protestor in Paris stands near a metro sign with a ‘front populaire’ sticker on it. The Popular Front was an alliance of various left-wing political movements in France in the 1930s. A ‘Noveau Front populaire’ (NFP) was launched this month as a similar coalition after the announcement of the snap election
Protestors carry signs in a show of solidarity in the capital on June 15
People carry hand-shaped signs during a demonstration in Paris. Signs read: ‘Do not touch my friend’
The marches took place mostly in calm, but police arrested 20 people, including nine in Paris. Five police officers were lightly injured in the protests.
There were brief episodes of tension in Rennes and Nantes in western France where a few dozen hard-left activists were pushed back by the police with tear gas.
In Paris, street infrastructure was damaged and two bank branches were targeted by hooded protesters.
Police in the capital were also the target of thrown bottles, to which they responded with tear gas, AFP correspondents said.
Carol-Ann Juste, a 22 year-old student taking part in the Paris march, said it was the first time she had taken part in a protest.
She said she was ‘worried because people believe the lies of this party that has a truly racist heritage,’ a reference to the National Front, a forerunner to the RN, whose leader Jean-Marie Le Pen was fined for remarks seen as anti-Semitic or xenophobic.
Juste said she wanted to ‘fight to preserve a country of human rights, freedom, and tolerance’.
‘France is made up of people of different origins. It is its strength. The National Rally wants to break that,’ 68-year-old Mohamed Benammar, a French doctor with Tunisian roots who works in a Paris public hospital, told AP.
‘We provide medical care to everyone, without worrying about their nationality, the color of their skin or their religion, unlike the fascists (extreme-right leaders) that single out Black, Arabs or Muslim people,’ he said.
Although his son told him that it was useless to protest, Bennamar said he’s convinced that it is important to make his voice heard. ‘I am here to send a strong signal to politicians. We won’t stay silent in the face of the far right,’ he said.
In Tours, western France, where hundreds of protesters were taking part in a march, a banner read: ‘For liberties, for rights, for a social and democratic republic, against far-right ideas and against racism’.
Several banners read: ‘young people hate the FN (the RN’s former name), while a pensioner carried a banner that read: ‘Old people also hate the RN’.
Jordan Bardella, President of the French far-right National Rally party, talks with farmer Francois Heniau on Friday
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the Plenary session at the Summit on Peace in Ukraine at the Burgenstock in Lucerne, Switzerland on June 15
Demonstrators stand on The Triumph of the Republic statue on Place de la Nation in Paris
A anti-fascist flag is waved with thousands of people rally behind it against the electoral rise of the far-right National Rally party on June 15
People attend a demonstration in Paris on Saturday to oppose the rising far-right in France
Left-wing politicians march among the protestors at the rally in Paris on Saturday
A sign displayed in Paris reads: ‘From fascism to misery, the social struggle is necessary’
Macron called a snap election, to be held in two rounds on June 30 and July 7, after his centrist alliance performed poorly against the RN in last Sunday’s European Parliament ballot.
An OpinionWay-Vae Solis poll conducted for Les Echos and Radio Classique published on Saturday forecast RN would lead in the first round with 33% of the votes, ahead of the Popular Front on 25%. Macron’s centrist party was on 20%.
The survey suggests the National Rally party would win 235 to 265 seats in the National Assembly, a jump from the 88 it has currently – but still short of the 289 needed for an absolute majority.
Macron’s centrist alliance meanwhile would see its number of lawmakers halve, from 250 to 125-155, the poll showed. Leftwing parties could together control 115 to 145 seats, though each party could run on its own.
Even if RN does score a majority in the French parliament, Macron would remain president for three more years and still be in charge of defence and foreign policy.
‘We’re still in shock,’ Emmanuel Pellerin, a lawmaker from Macron’s Renaissance party, told Reuters. ‘Everything points to the RN winning a relative or absolute majority. But that forces the French to think about what is at stake.’
