There were, according to some organizers, more than 300 people marching. On June 22, at the initiative of the Yvelines Students’ Union (UEY), the majority student union at UVSQ, a march was held against the far-right. Student unions, but also left-wing political parties (notably LFI), local elected officials, and other unions (the CGT, Solidaires, etc.) marched from Montigny-le-Bretonneux station. A procession which notably echoed, on a more local scale this time, the large national demonstration against the extreme right which had gathered a week earlier throughout France 250,000 (according to the Ministry of the Interior) to 640 000 people (according to the CGT).
“It is important to mobilize everywhere in France, and mainly in local places, to show that the fight is not only in big cities but must be done everywhere, simultaneously,” says Eloa Eguiluz, general secretary of the ‘UEY. This is why we, as a local organization, bring this type of action, as close as possible to the people. […] By bringing actions to people and political issues to people, that’s how they will mobilize the most. […] We are happy, because we launched this appeal somewhat urgently, and there are still people who are there, it proves to us that people are really affected by the current fight against the far-right […]. What we also see is that there are a lot of young people, […] and we are happy to see that, it is proof that young people have strong values, which are not at all in agreement with those carried by the extreme right.”
Present at the march, Antoine Tedesco, national secretary of the Student Union, explains: “We are mobilizing all of our local unions across the territory, in mainland France and overseas, to invest 200% in the New Popular Front, to beat the far right in the streets and at the ballot box. This means mobilizing on the ground by posting and distributing leaflets, but also by holding demonstrations, including today at SQY.”
This march in SQY was also the first of this type in Yvelines, in a political context where the RN, after its 31.37% during the European elections of June 9, is leading the polls in view of the legislative elections of June 30 and next July 7. Antoine Tedesco also underlines that the far-right vote is also winning over student circles. “We saw earlier in the year that they deployed lists in the elections in places where they had not deployed them before,” he slips. Faced with this, the national secretary of the Student Union nevertheless wants to be more determined than fearful: “We do not tremble in the face of the extreme right. We will always fight against the extreme right and its ideas which divide the country. »
A mobilization against the extreme right, therefore, but also for the New Popular Front, as could be read in bold on the large banner displayed at the head of the procession: “Let’s make a popular front!” Slogans dear to the left were also chanted on the megaphone “We want retirement at 60!” or on the placards: “For public services”, “Social and climate emergency”. Other slogans simply called for mobilization by going to the polls. After the Montigny station, the demonstrators headed towards Avenue du Centre, the Prés district, then headed towards Guyancourt, where they crisscrossed the Garennes and Villaroy districts, before arriving at the Pont du Routoir.
