Tens of thousands of people demonstrated this Saturday against the possibility of the extreme right coming to power in Francein the midst of a political crisis due to the unexpected advance legislative elections that the president established Emmanuel Macron.
Faced with a new possible victory of the far-right National Rally party (RN), which won 93% of French municipalities in the European elections, five unions called to demonstrate this weekend. “Our democracy is approaching a turning point”warned the leader of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFTC), Marylise Leon.
Around 250,000 people demonstrated in France, 75,000 of them in Paris, according to a police source. The CGT union raised these estimates to 640,000 and 250,000, respectively. The fear of the RN took different forms in the march in Paris: defense of democracy, the rights of foreigners and the LGTBI+ collective.
The demonstrations are reminiscent of those of May 1, 2002, when almost a million people took to the streets against the far-right Jean-Marie Le Pen, after he managed to advance to the presidential election. But since then, his daughter Marine Le Pen has managed to moderate the image of that National Front, renamed RN. “In 2002 it was a healthy movement of rage and fear. Now we are accustomed to the extreme right. It is not good”warned Alice Ribière, a 39-year-old teacher who demonstrated in Nice, in the southeast of France.
Florence David, a 60-year-old woman, confessed her fear. “I thought I would never see the extreme right come to power, but now it can happen,” she told the news agency. AFPat the beginning of the demonstration in Paris.
President Macron surprised France by bringing forward the legislative elections scheduled for 2027 to June 30 and July 7, just an hour after RN’s victory in the European elections a week ago. RN would obtain 29.5% of voting intention, according to a survey of Cluster17 published on Friday, which places the leftist New Popular Front coalition as its main rival with 28.5%. Macron’s centrist alliance would come in third position with 18% of voting intentions.
The French elect 577 deputies to the National Assembly in as many constituencies with a single-member system in two rounds. The leftist forces divided up the different constituencies. The elections do not affect Macron, whose second term as president ends in 2027, but he could have to share power if he wins a party of a different political color like RN.
