France appears more divided than ever after the European election results, which saw Marine Le Pen’s National Rally secure the top spot, relegating Emmanuel Macron’s party to third place. This outcome forced the French president to call for early elections.
The discontent with Macron is evident. Despite giving a vote of confidence to Marine Le Pen, the political life in the country remains uncertain. The leader of Le Pen’s far-right, Jordan Bardella, who many media outlets refer to as “Ken” due to his appearance, emerged as the top candidate in the European elections.
However, the dissatisfaction with the impending rise of the far-right in France is palpable. The streets of French cities are witnessing anxiety and reactions from the public in response to this new and uncertain era for Paris, especially with the upcoming Olympic Games set to begin on July 26th.
The Protests
Protests are expected to take place in Paris and many other French cities against the rise of the far-right National Rally (RN) in last Sunday’s European elections.
These protests have been actively supported by the French left-wing coalition, the New People’s Front, which is an unprecedented union of the French Left against the far right. Sophie Binet, the head of the powerful left-wing union CGT, made a special mention earlier this week about the protests happening this weekend during the presentation of the party’s candidates.
The police reported that 350,000 people are expected to participate in marches, and 21,000 police officers have been mobilized after unions, student organizations, and human rights groups called for rallies against the anti-immigration, Eurosceptic National Rally (RN) ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections in France.
At least 150 marches are expected to take place throughout France in cities such as Marseille, Toulouse, Lyon, and Lille.
In Paris, more than 100,000 people are expected to take to the streets for a march starting at 15:00 local time from Place de la République in the east and ending via Place de la Bastille at Nation.
President Emmanuel Macron announced early parliamentary elections, to be held in two rounds on June 30 and July 7, after his centrist alliance suffered a defeat to RN in the European elections on June 9.
Initial polls indicate that RN could win the parliamentary elections and potentially form a government.
A recent survey by the magazine Point, published yesterday, Friday, predicts that the RN will come first in the first round of parliamentary elections with 29.5% of the votes, closely followed by a coalition of left-wing parties called the People’s Front, which gathers 28.5%.
Emmanuel Macron’s centrist camp gathers 18% of the vote.
According to at least two surveys, the Left is not far behind the RN and is ahead of Macron’s team.
