Legislative in France | Demonstrations against the far right, tensions in the left-wing coalition

(Paris) “We love France, not R’Haine”: several tens of thousands of opponents of the far right marched across France on Saturday, at the call of unions, associations and of the New Popular Front, the union of left-wing parties shaken by accusations of “purge” within LFI.

In the campaign after the “stunning” of the dissolution, Gabriel Attal revealed the first measures of the majority program, in the event of victory for the presidential camp. With a leitmotif: strengthening the purchasing power of middle-class French people.

Across the country, 640,000 people demonstrated across the country, including 250,000 in Paris, according to the CGT. In the capital, the police headquarters counted 75,000 demonstrators.

From Bayonne to Nice, from Vannes to Reims, the anti-RN mobilized against the prospect of a victory for the National Rally in the legislative elections with the possibility of its boss, Jordan Bardella, entering Matignon.

The same slogans resounded in the processions: “Bardella get lost, the Republic is not yours”, “youth piss off the National Front”, “no neighborhood for fascists, no fascists in our neighborhoods”.

“We are all children of immigrants,” said Jean Cugier, a 43-year-old PE teacher in Marseille, who came to demonstrate against “the withdrawal into oneself that the extreme right is proposing.”

“I am here to defend women’s rights, equality between peoples, ecology too,” said Marie Chandel, 58, employed in National Education, in Paris.

In Marseille, 11,700 people marched according to the prefecture, 4000 people in Lille. In Bordeaux, there were 6,800 according to the authorities.

Figures far below the mobilization of 1^er May 2002, when more than a million people took to the streets to say “no” to the National Front after Jean-Marie Le Pen qualified for the second round of the presidential election.

In Marseille, young people, families coming with their children and elderly people demonstrated in a festive atmosphere, some with a French flag in their hands.

The processions took place largely peacefully apart from a few brief episodes of tension.

In Rennes, a few dozen anti-fascist activists were pushed back by the police with tear gas.

In Paris, nine people were arrested at this stage and three members of the forces lightly injured, according to the prefecture. Some damage was noted along the procession.

According to police sources, 21,000 police officers and gendarmes were deployed throughout the territory.

Five unions CFDT, CGT, UNSA, FSU and Solidaires had called for mobilization. FO, CFE-CGC and CFTC highlight their apoliticism so as not to call for demonstrations.

“Purge”

Left-wing leaders marched at the head of the procession in Paris. Without a word on the deep differences which are shaking the New Popular Front, after the decision of La France Insoumise (LFI) not to reinvest several figures opposed to Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

” We are ready […] we will give you back the flame. And not that of the National Front, that one, we are going to extinguish it,” launched the boss of the Ecologists Marine Tondelier.

“There are differences between us, but when the essential is at stake, we have no right to do anything other than come together,” added the boss of the socialists, Olivier Faure.

“We are in the process of writing history,” assured Mathilde Panot, close to Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

In Amiens, François Ruffin still urged “not to return to resentment”, but “to gain height”. “Jean-Luc Mélenchon is fabulous when he withdraws,” he tackled.

Discontent within LFI broke out on Friday evening.

A close friend of the rebellious leader, Adrien Quatennens, although sentenced in 2022 to four months of suspended imprisonment for domestic violence, was reinvested in the North.

On the other hand, Danielle Simonnet, Raquel Garrido and Alexis Corbière, historical figures of the movement opposed to the Mélenchonist line, were brutally dismissed and replaced by other candidates unknown to the general public.

“A purge”, denounced the first, the second accusing Jean-Luc Mélenchon of “settling his scores”.

“Investigations for life do not exist” within LFI, replied the tribune in 20 minutes. “Political coherence and loyalty in the first left-wing parliamentary group are also a requirement for governing.”

Olivier Faure assured that he wanted to “settle the scandalous eviction” of LFI deputies, without specifying.

Another potential subject of discord within the New Popular Front, the former socialist president François Hollande, favorable to the union of the left against the extreme right, announced his candidacy for the legislative elections in Corrèze.

Polls: the RN in the lead

The majority continues to occupy the land. Its leader, Gabriel Attal, unveiled in the regional press a series of measures to strengthen purchasing power.

He confirmed, in the event of victory, a reduction in electricity bills of 15% “from next winter”, promised a reduction in the price of school supplies and the establishment of a complementary “public” health insurance at 1 euro per day for those who are not covered.

He also proposes increasing the amount of the so-called “Macron” bonus, paid by companies to their employees up to 10,000 euros, instead of the current 6,000, “without charge or tax”.

With 33% of voting intentions, the RN came out clearly in the lead in the first round of the legislative elections on June 30, ahead of the New Popular Front (25%) and the presidential majority (20%), according to an Opinionway poll.

While the Euro football started Friday evening in Germany, the striker of the French team Marcus Thuram called for “fighting so that the RN does not pass”, a rare position for a top athlete level.