Thousands of people demonstrate against the extreme right in France

Thousands of people are protesting throughout France to show their rejection of the rise of the National Regroupment (RN), Marine Le Pen’s far-right party, which swept the European elections on June 9. Unions and civil organizations have called for more than 150 demonstrations this Saturday and Sunday. In Paris, the event, attended by thousands of people, was in the Place de la République.

Le Pen obtained one in three votes in the elections for the European Parliament. Given this result, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, decided to dissolve the National Assembly and advance the legislative elections to next June 30 and July 7. The president’s announcement has altered an already turbulent political scene.

The leader of the CGT union Sophie Binet declared in Paris, on the Place de la République: “We are demonstrating because we are very concerned about the possibility that (RN head) Jordan Bardella could become the next prime minister… We want to prevent this disaster.” The general secretary of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor, Marylise Léon, also stated in the capital, a few minutes before the march, that “the outlook is not very encouraging. “We will remain committed until the last day of the legislative elections,” she added.

According to a first series of polls cited by Reuters, RN could win the elections and be in a position to form the next government. A survey published by the magazine Le PointOn Friday, it predicted that RN would lead the first round of the parliamentary elections with 29.5% of the vote, ahead of the Popular Front, the coalition of left-wing parties, which would obtain 28.5%. Macron’s centrists would be at 18%.

“We need to get people out of denial,” said Cécile Duflot, director general of Oxfam France. The country, Duflot said, “is at the dawn of a catastrophic scenario” due to RN’s far-right speech, a “scam” based on “speculations about racism.”

According to police sources cited by The Figaro, 21,000 agents have been mobilized to guarantee security. Security forces expect between 300,000 and 350,000 to demonstrate across the country, including cities such as Marseille, Toulouse, Lyon and Lile.

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