Presidential: a Saturday of demonstrations against the far right in France

Published on: 04/16/2022 – 08:06 Thirty demonstrations are planned for Saturday in France to say “no to the far right”, eight days before the second round of the presidential election opposing the candidacy of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen, to outgoing President Emmanuel Macron. Six days after the first round of the presidential election which saw Marine Le Pen rank second with 23.15% of the vote behind Emmanuel Macron (27.85%), protesters opposed to the far right will speak out in the streets . About 15,000 of them are expected throughout the territory on Saturday, according to the authorities. They respond to the call of more than thirty organizations and unions including SOS Racisme, the CGT or the Syndicat de la magistrature. Their watchwords: “Against the far right and its ideas, no Marine Le Pen at the Élysée”. destroyer of the rule of law, of the social and united democratic republic that we defend every day”, they explain in a press release published on the site of the League of Human Rights (LDH), denouncing a “misleading program “. “The freedom of the press and the diversity of French trade unionism are both in danger when the far right is close to taking power”, argues in a press release the National Union of Journalists, which rallies the movement initiated by the LDH. About thirty demonstrations are planned. In the capital, the procession will leave the Place de la Nation at 2:00 p.m., in the direction of the Place de la République. A demonstration considered “at risk” by the authorities, who expect around 4,000 participants. The procession is “likely to bring together various protesters, yellow vests, ultra-left” and associations, estimates a police source. “The student mobilization of the last days is likely to swell the ranks”, specifies one from the same source, according to who “several dozen activists from the radical protest movement” could be present. Many angry students have been mobilized since Wednesday in Paris, Nancy, Lyon or Reims to protest against the result of the first round and highlight ecological issues and social. In Marseille, a rally is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. from the Old Port, not far from the Pharo where the candidate president must hold a meeting at 4:00 p.m. In the Marseille city, 31.12% of the votes went to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, 22.62% to the Head of State on April 10. In a press release, Sud Santé calls for joining the movement in Marseille and denounces the arrival of the far right in the second round, believing that ” the responsibilities are t to seek on the side of the ultra-liberal policies, carried out for years, which have exacerbated injustices and social inequalities, plunged territories and populations into precariousness and disarray”. In Amiens, a few hundred people should respond to the call in the city of Emmanuel Macron, where Jean-Luc Mélenchon came first in the 1st round with 31.27%, the child of the country collecting him 30.05%. With AFP