At least 2,000 demonstrators protested against the partial victory of the far right on Sunday at the Place de la République in Paris, one of the emblematic spots of the French left, and demanded that Macron vote for the best-placed progressive candidates in the second round on July 7.
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“Since 2002, whenever there has been a second round against the far right, the left has blocked the far right, voting for conservative lists that we did not like. Now that it’s the other way around, we don’t see such a clear message for them to vote for us.”lamented Rebeca, a French woman who speaks fluent Spanish.
A few meters from the statue that represents Marianne (incarnation of the French Republic), the young woman who works in sustainable finance carries a sign in which she remembers that the so-called ‘barrage republicain’ (‘republican blockade’, which serves to stop in the second rounds to the Lepenist extreme right, considered not completely democratic) does not only apply to left-wing voters.
With more than 60 percent counted, the Lepenist National Rally (RN) heads almost 300 of the 577 constituencies (which correspond to one deputy each), something never seen in the democratic history of France.
The leftist Popular Front alliance leads with 133 and French President Emmanuel Macron’s coalition leads with half, with 61. According to some projections, the RN could win an absolute majority and impose far-right candidate Jordan Bardella as prime minister over Macron.
In addition to citizens, the main leaders of the parties that make up the New Popular Front, the Socialist Front, the Communist Front, the Eco-fronts and La France Insoumise attended the rally.
“Not leaving a clear message is not serious or responsible. We have to try to convince centrist and moderate right voters that the extreme right must be stopped. We have done it when it was our turn,” added the young woman.
Macron and outgoing Prime Minister Gabriel Attal advocated for “a clearly democratic and republican union for the second round” on July 7, but it was not clear whether that union is unconditional for all Popular Front candidates.
The party leading this alliance, the opposition La France Insoumise (LFI), has been heavily criticised by Macronists, who have put it on a par with the RN, in particular because of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
The spiritual leader of the LFI and three-time presidential candidate has been the target of criticism from Macron and his allies for remarks deemed anti-Semitic and for his invectives against the police.
Amid chants against the RN and its potential prime minister, Jordan Bardella, the demonstrators on the Place de la République waved the flags of Palestine, Algeria, France and South Africa. “We are all anti-fascists,” “the youth are annoying the RN,” chanted the young people, many of them wearing Mélenchon’s LFI badges.
EFE
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