How many people really attended Eric Zemmour’s meeting on Sunday March 27 on the Place du Trocadéro in Paris? “100,000“, proclaims the far-right candidate from the podium in front of the crowd.
You are 100,000! 100,000 French people who stop at nothing! 100,000 French people who are proud of their country! 100,000 French people who want to write history! Here you are!#ZemmourTrocadero pic.twitter.com/ZbnamofiUJ
— Eric Zemmour (@ZemmourEric) March 27, 2022
But it is probably much less. And it’s also a feeling of deja vu: like in 2017 when Bruno Retailleau launched “You are more than 200,000!” at François Fillon’s meeting on this same square, in the open air, facing the Eiffel Tower.
Already at the time, the media, including franceinfo, explained that the Trocadéro’s reception capacity was much lower. We can estimate by rounding up that the area of the Place du Trocadéro is 20 000 m². In 20 000 m², event organizers usually welcome 45 000 people, or just over two people per square meter.
/2022/03/28/phpvczjjM.gif)
To reach 100 000 participants, this density would have to reach five people per square meter and these people would no longer be able to circulate, whether they were shoulder to shoulder, as in the last few meters in front of the stage of a crowded concert, or as in a subway train at rush hour.
What a crowd. Huge crowd. The France that we never hear. France who will win. #ZemmourTrocadero pic.twitter.com/vx5eyjGIhf
— Stanislas Rigault (@stanislasrig) March 27, 2022
Another key element: to reach 100,000, the gathering must overflow into all the streets adjacent to the Place du Trocadéro. And the density per square meter must be the same over the entire surface. According to the various images, whether aerial or tighter, there was not such a compact crowd on Sunday in front of Eric Zemmour.
/2022/03/27/phpvaXh8h.jpg)
Coming from the four corners of France, you are tens of thousands gathered at the Trocadero! Thank you all for this exceptional fervor!#ZemmourTrocadero pic.twitter.com/w2WVwbbC4D
— Eric Zemmour (@ZemmourEric) March 27, 2022
/2022/03/28/phpqeHGNq.jpg)
His party, Reconquest!, had also communicated on 50,000 registered for this meeting: registration was compulsory to access it.
Beyond the figures, a controversy marked this Sunday meeting: the slogan “Macron assassin” was heard during the rally of the far-right candidate. Eric Zemmour is accused by his opponents of having let the crowd chant these words for several seconds, without intervening. For his part, Eric Zemmour “condemn what the crowd said at that time“and that he”didn’t hear“, reacted his entourage, questioned by journalists.