PARIS — Amid frenzied campaigning ahead of surprise parliamentary elections, anti-racism groups joined France’s trade unions and a new left-wing coalition to protest in Paris and across France on Saturday against rising far-right nationalist forces.
The French Interior Ministry said 250,000 people took part in the protests, with 75,000 of them in Paris. Despite rainy and windy weather, protesters who fear elections will bring to power the first far-right government since World War Two gathered at Place de la Republique before marching through eastern Paris. Up to 21,000 police and gendarmes were deployed.
Protesters held signs reading “Liberty for all, equality for all, fraternity for all” (a reference to France’s national motto) and “Break borders, papers for all, no to the immigration bill.” Some chanted “Free Palestine, long live Palestine” and wore keffiyeh scarves.
Among them was Noor Sekar, a 16-year-old high school student from the Paris region who is half French and half Algerian and wears the hijab.
“For me, the far right is dangerous because they espouse an ideology based on the fear of the other. On the other hand, despite our differences, we are all French citizens,” she told The Associated Press.
Sekhar said he would vote for the Left Alliance “because it is the only party that tackles racism and Islamophobia.”
“I am afraid of the rise of the national rally because I am afraid they will ban the hijab in the name of women’s freedom. I am a woman and I should be able to decide what I want to wear. I am a free woman,” she said, adding that she is insulted daily on social media and in the streets because of her headscarf.
“We all hate racism” the crowd chanted, accompanied by music by Malian-French singer Aya Nakamura.
“France is made up of people of different origins. That is France’s strength. The Rally National wants to destroy that,” Mohamed Benamar, 68, a French-Tunisian doctor who works in a Paris public hospital, told The Associated Press.
“Unlike fascists who discriminate against blacks, Arabs and Muslims, we provide healthcare to everyone, regardless of nationality, skin colour or religion,” he said.
While his son said there was no point in protesting, Bennamar said he believed it was important for his voice to be heard. “I’m here to send a strong message to politicians: we will not be silent in the face of the far right,” he said.
Paris police reported “numerous acts of vandalism” by protesters. Nine protesters were arrested and three police officers were injured, police said. An Associated Press reporter reported that police used tear gas on protesters who tried to vandalize a bus stop and advertising billboards.
In the French Riviera city of Nice, protesters marched down the city’s main shopping street, Avenue Jean Medecin, chanting slogans against the National Rally, its leader Jordan Bardella and President Emmanuel Macron. Local police said 2,500 people took part.
Nice is traditionally a conservative stronghold but over the past decade it has swung squarely in favour of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally and her far-right rival Eric Zemmour.
Crowds have gathered every day since the anti-immigration National Rally made historic gains in Sunday’s European elections, crushing President Macron’s pro-business moderates and forcing the dissolution of the National Assembly.
The lower house elections will be held in two stages, on June 30 and July 7. Macron will remain president until 2027 and will be in charge of foreign and defense affairs, but if the National Rally wins and takes control of the government and domestic policy, his presidency will be weakened.
“We need a rise in democracy and society, otherwise the far right will come to power,” France’s trade unions said in a statement on Friday. “Our republic and our democracy are in danger.”
They noted that far-right leaders in Europe and around the world have passed laws that disadvantage women, the LGBTQ+ community and people of color.
To stop the National Union party from winning the next election, left-wing parties finally agreed on Friday to put aside their differences over Gaza and the war in Ukraine to form a coalition government. They called on French people to defeat the far-right.
French opinion polls suggest the National Rally, whose founder has been repeatedly convicted of racism and anti-Semitism, is expected to take the lead in the first round of parliamentary elections. The party came out on top in the European elections, winning more than 30 percent of the French vote, nearly double the number won by Macron’s Renaissance party.
Macron still has three years left in his term and will retain foreign and defence powers regardless of the outcome of France’s parliamentary elections.
But a National Coalition victory could weaken his presidency and mean the party’s 28-year-old leader, Bardella, could become the next prime minister with powers over domestic and economic issues.
