Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of France on Saturday to denounce the rise of the country’s far-right party and call on fellow citizens to prevent it from taking power in early parliamentary elections announced by President Emmanuel Macron.
The protest was organized by the country’s five major trade unions and received widespread support from human rights associations, activists, artists and supporters. The new left alliance Most of the protesters painted a dark picture of the country under the leadership of a far-right prime minister.
“For the first time since Vichy, the far right may have the upper hand again in France,” Socialist leader Olivier Faure said in a speech to a crowd in Paris.
The prospect has brought out of retirement former President Francois Hollande, who announced on Saturday that he would run in legislative elections to ensure the far right does not take power.
“The situation is very serious,” he said in his hometown of Corrèze. “For those who feel lost, we need to convince them that French solidarity is indispensable.”
Macron announced last week that He is dissolving the lower house of parliament He called for new parliamentary elections after his centrist Ennahda party suffered a crushing defeat to the far-right National Rally party in European Parliament elections.
This is a political move betMacron hoped voters would stick with him, portraying himself as a force of reason and stability between two extreme forces: the National Rally and the far-left France Inflexible party, which has since joined the New Popular Front.
But there are signs his decision could backfire.
Early opinion polls show the National Rally, which has long called for a sharp cut in the number of immigrants and asylum seekers and the introduction of a “nationals first” system that reserves jobs, homes and hospital treatment for native French people, in the lead.
“Macron took a risk in calling this election for many reasons,” said Gilles Ivaldi, a professor of political science at Sciences Po who studies far-right politics in France and Europe. “He overlooked one thing — the National Rally has political momentum. That’s key to winning an election.”
After years of being suppressed, the National Rally’s political fortunes have risen rapidly, drawing figures like Philippe Noel, a 45-year-old teacher, who took to the streets on Saturday.
“It’s true that we could end up with a far-right government,” Mr. Noel said, as he walked past a brass band playing pop songs for the crowd under a drizzly sky. “But it’s not inevitable and I hope the left parties can unite.”
Police estimated that as of Saturday afternoon, 250,000 people had taken to the streets across France, including 75,000 in Paris.
“I’m here because I’m angry and I feel powerless,” said Lucie Heurtebize, 26, who works in the tech industry. “We need to come together.”
As the protests died down, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, a member of Macron’s party, announced changes to Ennahda’s platform that echoed his rival’s promises to boost French households’ spending power. The changes included indexing pensions to inflation, allowing employers to increase wages through tax-free bonuses and offering supplementary health insurance for €1 a day.
“The French know that our program is coherent,” he told Le Parisien in an interview. “For other parties, it’s like skydiving without a parachute.”
The demonstrations ended largely without incident, with people from all walks of life, including students, workers, technology programmers, business executives and football players, expressing their determination to prevent the rise of rallies across the country.
But in Paris, a group of black-clad protesters began smashing storefronts before clashing with large riot police, who fired tear gas. They were booed by other demonstrators, who warned that violence would help right-wing politicians and right-wing media portrayed those on the left as extremists.
“It’s not normal that today we have 50 percent of the people voting for a racist, misogynistic party that wants to expel foreigners and doesn’t solve the real problems of the people,” said Laura Michaud, a 31-year-old business executive who attended the protest with friends. “I’m not a fan of Emmanuel Macron, but I’ll vote for him if I have to.”
However, many in the crowd said they hoped the new left-wing alliance could defeat the far right, just as the original Popular Front coalition did in the 1930s.
The original Popular Front united against the rise of far-right fascist political groups in Europe and formed a government led by Leon Blum, who became the country’s first socialist and Jewish prime minister in 1936. During his brief leadership, Mr. Blum secured many of the workers’ rights now considered essential, including collective bargaining, a 40-hour work week and two weeks of paid vacation each year.
“We’ve been waiting for this Popular Front for a long time,” said Patrick Franceschi, a business developer who supports the Greens. “We voted for Macron twice against the National Rally, but now there is a Left Front that is closer to my political family.”
The New Popular Front is made up of ecologists, communists, socialists and far-left parties, brought together despite recent bitter conflicts and opposing policies.
On Friday, the alliance released a platform It promised to raise wages, restore purchasing power to French citizens and lower France’s statutory retirement age from 64 to 60. The French government said it would withdraw from the European Union’s free trade agreements, which the coalition argued had taken away French jobs through globalization.
On immigration, the coalition wants France to be more welcoming to asylum seekers and climate refugees – a stance that differs radically from what the National Rally is proposing.
But cracks have already appeared, with some prominent members of France Indomitable being left off the candidate list. Hollande’s return could bring more problems; The Socialist Party collapsed under his leadershipFor many on the left, he is a polarizing figure.
Saturday’s demonstrations echoed the mass protests that engulfed streets across France in 2002, when Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the far-right National Front, made it to the second round of the presidential election. Le Pen’s daughter, Marine, took over the party in 2011 and renamed it the National Rally, but its basic ideas — opposition to immigration and stronger police powers — remained.
At the time, left-wing parties united in the so-called Republican Front, which asked its members to protect the country from far-right forces and vote for conservative rival Jacques Chirac even though they disagreed with his policies.
“It’s about drawing a line in the sand,” said Cécile Alduy, a Stanford professor and National Rally expert, who declared that “there is an essential difference between parties that threaten the republic by undermining values like equality, freedom and solidarity, and other parties whose policies you may not agree with but that are within the constitutional framework.”
The move worked. Mr Chirac was elected president with an overwhelming majority.
Since then, there have been repeated calls for a Republican Front-style bulwark, particularly during lower-level elections, to keep out far-right party members. Leaving the Oval OfficeWhile this strategy has worked in the past, it has waned. 89 National League members were elected to the 577-seat National Assembly. That makes the party a formidable opposition force. Le Pen won 41.5% of the vote in the presidential election, though she lost to Macron.
The party made further gains in last week’s European elections.
Ségolène Le Stradick Contributed reporting.
