Demonstrators rallied against the far-right in France on Saturday.
Raul Boyer/AFP via Getty Images
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Raul Boyer/AFP via Getty Images
About 300,000 people took to the streets of France from Paris to Toulouse on Saturday to urge voters to prevent the country’s far-right party from gaining a majority in upcoming parliamentary elections.
The election will take place in two rounds of voting on June 30 and July 7.
Protesters were demonstrating against far-right leaders Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardera, both of whom hold hardline views on immigration, after their National Rally party made historic electoral gains. European elections last weekend.
If the election results go in their favor, it will also be the first time France has a far-right government since World War II.
In Paris, tens of thousands gathered at Place de la République and marched through eastern Paris. According to the Associated Press, about 20,000 law enforcement officers have been deployed in the city. Many protesters took to the streets to promote anti-racist and pro-Palestinian messages.
According to the Associated Press, in the city of Nice, where Le Pen has received a lot of support, police said about 2,500 protesters came to protest against the far-right elements.
Demonstrators gathered against the far right in Paris, France, on Saturday.
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Over the weekend, French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Ennahda party was defeated by the far-right Marine Le Pen in the EU parliamentary elections. The results showed that Macron’s party received 15% of the vote, while Le Pen’s party received about 32%.
In response, Macron dissolved France’s parliament and called for early elections in the hope that he would gain stronger support for the remaining three years of his term as president.
The move was seen as a major gamble. If the far right gains a majority, Macron will effectively become a sitting duck president, with both parliament and prime minister hostile.
In a bid to prevent the National Rally party from winning upcoming elections, left-wing parties formed a coalition on Friday, setting aside differences over the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
France’s political landscape has been deeply divided since the collapse of France’s mainstream right- and left-wing parties a few years ago. It’s part of a larger trend in Europe – in recent EU elections, voters in 27 countries handed huge victories to far-right parties.
