opponents demonstrated in several cities for a “total withdrawal” of the text

Thousands of opponents of the immigration law took to the streets in Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux, Lyon and elsewhere in France on Sunday January 14. They demand the “total withdrawal” text and wish to maintain the “pressure” before the decision of the Constitutional Council on January 25. “Immigration law, racist law. We don’t want it, we fight it”, chanted in the capital several thousand demonstrators who braved the cold, rushing from the Place de la République. More than 400 collectives, associations, unions and political parties called for demonstrations against a text which “takes up many ideas from the extreme right”. In Marseille, there were 2,500 people, according to the prefecture. In Lyon, between 2,300 people (prefecture) and 3,000 (organizers) people marched. In Bordeaux, there were two to three thousand people, according to AFP journalists.

Adopted forceps by Parliament on December 19, the text notably restricts the payment of social benefits for foreigners, establishes migration quotas, calls into question the automaticity of land law and reestablishes a “illegal residence offense”. “We do not expect anything from the decision of the Constitutional Council: it will undoubtedly remove certain articles, but we are asking for total withdrawal”, commented Denis Godard, a leader of the Solidarity March. Before the decision of the Sages on January 25, a new call to demonstrate against the law was launched by more than 200 personalities, for January 21.