Representatives of France’s main unions and civil organizations have begun to gather at the Place de la République in Paris to begin a series of demonstrations across the country this weekend against the rise of the far right resulting in the broad victory of the Rally. National in the European elections last weekend.
Around 200 demonstrations will tour French territory this Saturday and tomorrow; calls that could bring together, according to police sources to ‘Le Figaro’, between 300,000 and 350,000 people, of which between 50,000 and 100,000 in the capital.
To control its development, 21,000 police and gendarmes have been mobilized in a special security apparatus.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday afternoon the call of early legislative elections in response to the overwhelming victory of the far-right National Rally, led by Marine Le Pen, in the European elections. This move by Macron has revolutionized the French political scene.
“It is not a very encouraging outlook,” acknowledged the general secretary of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor, Marylise Léon, a few minutes before the march in Paris, “but we will remain committed until the last day of the legislative elections.”
“We need to get people out of denial,” said Cécile Duflot, general director of Oxfam France, who declared that the country “is at the dawn of a catastrophic scenario” due to the speech of the National Rally, a ” scam” based on “speculation about racism.