Fifty violent attacks ahead of crucial vote shock country

More than 50 candidates and activists have been physically attacked in France ahead of Sunday’s tense final round of parliamentary elections, Interior Minister Gerrald Darmanin said.

He revealed the figure after government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot, her deputy Virginie Lanlo and a party activist were brutally attacked while putting up election posters in Meudon, southwest of Paris. .

The motive for the attack was unclear, but Ms Trevino returned to Meudon on Thursday with Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who denounced what he called an “intolerable cowardly attack”.

A series of attacks across France reflected the frenzy on the final day of an election that the far-right National Rally (RN) is expected to win.

Although RN is far ahead in the polls, 217 candidates have withdrawn from the local runoffs, so another candidate is more likely to prevent them from winning an outright majority in Congress.

Mr Darmanin told news channel BFMTV that the attack took place amid a “tense” atmosphere in France and that more than 30 people had been arrested.

He said the attackers were either “spontaneously angry” people or “far left, far right or other political groups”.

Images taken from an apartment building show young people gathering around party activists from the candidate’s ensemble alliance with her deputy Virginie Lanlo and President Emmanuel Macron around.

Ms Trevino told Le Parisien website that when she and her colleagues objected to young people defacing party posters, “they immediately attacked one of my activists, causing Virginie to be injured”. Ms Ranlo suffered an injury to her arm, while the activist was punched, kicked and assaulted with a scooter, eventually suffering a broken jaw. Car windshields were also smashed by scooters.

Three teenagers and a 20-year-old man were arrested by police and the incident was quickly condemned by politicians.

Mr Attar called on people to “reject the spreading climate of violence and hatred”, while RN leader Jordan Bardella said one of his “big commitments as prime minister” was to “fight record numbers of Insecurity and repeat crime”.

Mr Darmanin announced that 30,000 police officers would be deployed across France for Sunday’s vote to prevent “the far left or the far right” from inciting unrest.

Voters interviewed by the BBC on Thursday in northern France’s constituencies said they feared young people would explode to express their anger at the political system no matter who wins.

Law and order is one of RN’s top priorities, along with immigration and tax cuts in response to the cost of living crisis.

Registered nurse candidates are also under attack. Marie Dauchy described being “violently attacked” while campaigning at a market in Larochette, near Grenoble in the southeast.

Nicolas Conquer, the conservative candidate aligned with registered nurses, complained that he and a female colleague were pelted with eggs. Last month, another registered nurse candidate was attacked while handing out pamphlets and was treated in hospital.

At a surprise call from President Macron, Bardera’s party won 33.2% of the vote in the first round of snap elections and is now aiming to win an absolute majority in the 577-seat National Assembly.

But his political opponents have agreed to do whatever they can to prevent the far right from winning enough seats to form a government.

In the first round, candidates who won more than half of the local votes won 76 seats, including 39 RN candidates and their allies.

The other 501 seats will be decided in runoffs, with 217 third-place candidates withdrawing from the race to give their opponents a better chance of defeating RN. Among the 217 withdrawals, 130 candidates are from the left-wing New Popular Front and 81 are from Macron’s coalition.

Marine Le Pen harshly complained about the move to ensure a “massive withdrawal” and accused those who tried to “remain in power against the will of the people”.

However, she said she believed there was still a chance of winning an outright majority if the electorate turned out to be large.

The latest Ifop poll suggests the RN will win 210-240 seats, short of the 289 seats needed to form a government. That’s down from the 240-270 seat range expected to be won after the first round.

Still, some minorities in France remain concerned about what the National Assembly might do if it takes power.

It aims to give French citizens “national priority” over immigrants in terms of jobs and housing, and to abolish the automatic right of children of foreign parents to French citizenship if they have spent time in France from the ages of 11 to 18 Five years.

Dual citizens will also be banned from dozens of sensitive jobs.

A Muslim woman in an area who voted for the RN with 54% of the vote last Sunday told the BBC that the RN was making progress with every election.

Meanwhile, prosecutors are investigating an extremist “Patriot Network” website that published a list of nearly 100 lawyers “to be eliminated” after signing an open letter opposing the nationwide rally.

On the eve of France’s European Cup quarter-final match against Portugal in Germany, national football team captain Kylian Mbappe called on voters to “make the right choice”.

After Sunday’s “catastrophic” first-round results, he said “we cannot hand the country over to these people” without specifying who they were.