Presidential election | Protests across France against the far right

(Paris) They came to say “no to the extreme right”. Several hundred demonstrators in Paris and in around thirty cities expressed their concern on Saturday to see Marine Le Pen access the Elysee Palace eight days before the second round of the presidential election which will oppose him to Emmanuel Macron.

“We are here to say no to the far right. […] for society, freedoms but also the climate. It would be a real regression if she came to power, ”explained to AFP Jean-François Julliard, director general of Greenpeace France, place de la Nation before the departure of the procession around 2:30 p.m.

League of Human Rights, SOS Racism, CGT, Syndicate of the judiciary… in total about thirty organizations and unions called for these demonstrations. And the authorities were expecting around 15,000 people in the territory, including 3,000-4,000 in Paris.

Marine Le Pen, who spoke to the press earlier in the morning in Saint-Rémy-sur-Avre (Eure-et-Loir), believes that “coming to demonstrate against the results of an election” is “deeply anti-democratic . So I think the French find it unpleasant to see that their choice is thus contested in the street, through demonstrations”.

“Against the far right, for justice and equality. No Le Pen at the Élysée”, advocates the head banner in Paris. In the procession, few politicians but Philippe Martinez (CGT) Dominique Sopo (SOS racism) Arié Alimi (lawyer) Imane Ouelhalj (UNEF), among others.

“Our concerns are that the far right will come to power […], we do not want Marine Le Pen at the Élysée. We are here to say ‘use your ballot to prevent him from coming to power’, we don’t say ‘vote Macron’, but it comes down to that”, insisted François Sauterey co-president of MRAP.

A banner read “Better a vote that stinks than a vote that kills”.

Activist of SOS Racisme, Sasha Halgand regrets being faced with “a Macron / Le Pen duel which the youth does not want. We want to say no to the extreme right. Macron participated in his rise but the useful vote goes to him. If Marine le Pen came to power, there would be fascist militias, draconian laws”.

The RN program, “it’s anything but a social project as it claims to be […]. We are here to say “there is fire, our social movement must react”, explains Benoit Teste, secretary general of the FSU. The FSU also has serious concerns about education with a terrifying plan to control school curricula and young foreigners who would be expelled.

Lucile Muller, 19, a student in animation cinema in Paris, is there to “contest the two candidates”. “It is not acceptable that we have to choose between Macron and Le Pen, we already had the same result five years ago but we did not know Macron. There, we saw police violence, draconian laws […] We would have liked to have the choice, with a second round Mélenchon / Macron, with debates on ecology for example ”.

In Paris, the demonstration is considered “at risk” by the authorities, who have deployed an important device, because the procession is “likely to bring together various protesters, yellow vests, ultraleft” and associations, according to a police source.

A video calling for demonstrations in Paris against Emmanuel Macron has been circulating since Friday evening on social networks.

In Besançon, Malee Caretti, 28, demonstrates “against racism. It’s been getting worse and worse for years, we see this trivialization of racism and social violence.

Many angry students have since been mobilized in their universities to protest against the result of the first round and highlight ecological and social issues.

In Marseille a rally is planned from the Old Port, not far from the Pharo where the candidate president must hold a rally at 4 p.m. In the Marseille city, 31.12% of the votes went to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, 22.62% to the head of state on April 10.