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

They demand the “total withdrawal” of the text and wish to maintain the “pressure” before the decision of the Constitutional Council on January 25.

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 several thousand demonstrators in the capital – 25,000 according to the organizers, 7,700 according to the police headquarters.

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 (prefecture) and 3,000 people (organizers) marched. There were also numerous in Bordeaux, 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, a new call to demonstrate on January 21 was launched by more than 200 personalities.