Demonstrations against the RN took place this Thursday, June 27, like in Paris, Lille or Marseille. In three days, on June 30, the French are called to the polls to choose their 577 deputies.
Several thousand people gathered against the far right this Thursday, June 27 in the evening at Place de la République, in Paris, three days before the first round of the legislative elections for which the National Rally is widely favored.
Gatherings also brought together several hundred people in Lille (around 300), Marseille (around 150) and Rennes (around 680), AFP journalists noted.
Concert and speaking engagements
In Paris, speeches by personalities, activists and mini-concerts alternated during a festive event called by the media (Mediapart, Politis, Arrêt sur images…), unions (CFDT, CGT, Confederation peasant, FSU…) and numerous associations (Attac, Greenpeace, Abbé Pierre…).
Actress Corinne Masiero read out elements of the New Popular Front’s programme on stage before chanting the Italian refrain “Siamo tutti antifascisti” while the audience clapped their hands. Former minister Cécile Duflot, director general of Oxfam, also spoke, before the electronic music group Acid Arab launched the musical section.
The actress Judith Godrèche, the comedian Guillaume Meurice and the director Alice Diop are among the personalities called to speak during this event called “Libertés!”, in defense of the freedoms “to create, exist, love, express oneself , demonstrate, inform, believe”, according to the organizers.
“I am worried about what will happen on Sunday and July 7. This is not a demonstration that will change things, but we hope…”, one protester, Ambre Fouillade, an 18-year-old law student, told AFP.
“I’m here for anti-racism and freedom of the press,” stressed Paul Mongault, 21, a railway worker, although he is aware that “it’s also the younger generations who are making the RN rise.”
“No to the threat posed by the RN to democracy”
In Rennes, at the rally organised at midday at the call of the CGT, CFDT, FO and Solidaires, Wilfried Lemaréchal, general secretary of CFDT Île-et-Vilaine, came to “say no to the threat that the RN poses to democracy”.
In Lille, demonstrators, many of whom were health sector employees, called for “the unity of employees, students, retirees and immigrants”.
“We have to keep hope to change what people experience on a daily basis. In my entourage there is an awareness of the danger with the RN. I have friends who were not going to vote and who are mobilizing “, assured Sophie Frochisse, 36 years old, employee undergoing retraining in the medico-social sector.
Numerous rallies and demonstrations against the far right have been held since the dissolution of the National Assembly on June 9.
