Hundreds of French people came out to celebrate the death of Jean-Marie Le Pen and controversy broke out

“Many people he loved are waiting for him up there. Many who love him mourn him down here. Good wind and good sea, dad!”. With these words Marine Le Pen said goodbye this Wednesday to her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the National Front party, who died at the age of 96 on Tuesday, and whom she described as a “warrior.” Hours before, during the night, however, hundreds of French people came out to celebrate the politician’s departure, and controversy broke out.

“This filthy racist is dead,” read one of the banners in Paris’ Place de la République, where protesters gathered.

“It is the death of a person we hate, because he was misogynist, racist, denialist and all that. “When such hateful characters die, it must be celebrated,” explained Louise Delporte, a 20-year-old politics student in Marseille.

In this city in the south of France between 200 and 300 people gatheredin a festive atmosphere, with champagne bottlesparty hats and a sign that read “Finally.”

“It is a symbol that is dying and it is very good to know that. It is a symbol of an extreme right that no longer makes sense. Unfortunately, it continues to exist and we must remember that we must not allow it to remain alive,” celebrated Vivien Perez, a 24-year-old musician. years.

In both Paris and Lyon, in the center of France, fireworks were launched. Between 200 and 300 people gathered in the latter city.

The Minister of the Interior of France, Bruno Retailleau, stated in X that These demonstrations of joy are “shameful.”

“Nothing, absolutely nothing justifies dancing on a corpse. The death of a man, even if he was a political opponent, should only inspire composure and dignity. These festive demonstrations are simply shameful,” the minister said in X.

Instead, the leader of the leftist party France Insoumise, Mathilde Panot, invoked the spirit of the weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo, whose attack commemorated 10 years on Tuesday, to justify the celebrations.

The French anti-racist group SOS Racism He said Le Pen spent her life promoting the far-right through “racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.” The group also paid tribute in a statement to the “generations of activists who have given their time, youth and energy to fight against the National Front and its ideas.”

In a 1987 interview, Jean-Marie referred to the Nazi gas chambers as a “detail in the history of World War II.

He repeated the observation in 2015, saying that I wasn’t sorry at allwhich provoked the anger of his daughter, who by then was already the leader of the party and sought to distance herself from her father’s extremist image.

That year, was expelled from training which was later renamed the National Rally, as part of Marine’s efforts to transform it into one of the most powerful political forces in France.

Jean-Marie’s funeral will take place on Saturday in his hometown, La Trinité-sur-Mer, in the western region of Brittany.