France – World – Rallies against the far right in Paris and in France three days before the legislative elections

Gatherings also brought together a few hundred people in Lille (around 300), Marseille (around 150) and Rennes (around 680), AFP journalists noted.

In Paris, speeches by personalities, activists and mini-concerts (Acid Arab, les Goguettes…) alternated during a festive event called for by the media (Mediapart, Politis, Arrêt sur images…), unions (CFDT, CGT, Confédération paysanne, FSU…) and associations (Attac, Greenpeace, Abbé Pierre…).

Actress Corinne Masiero read out elements of the New Popular Front (NFP) programme on stage before chanting the Italian refrain “Siamo tutti antifascisti” as the audience clapped their hands.

Video messages from comedian Guillaume Meurice and ex-footballer Vikash Dhorasoo were broadcast, while other personalities, such as director Alice Diop, intervened to defend the “freedoms” to “create, exist, love , express yourself, demonstrate, inform, believe”, the watchword of this gathering.

“What will happen to our mixed cultures, to the richness of our cinema, to our music, to our children’s reading? What will they watch on privatized television”, also asked actress Judith Godrèche on the scene.

The leader of the CGT, Sophie Binet, whose organization called for a vote for the NFP, insisted on the “seriousness” of the moment during an intervention, briefly interrupted by an action by activists from the extreme feminist collective. right, Nemesis, which led to some jostling.

“I am worried about what will happen on Sunday and July 7. It is not a demonstration that will change things, but we hope…” Ambre Fouillade, law student, told AFP aged 18.

“I’m here for anti-racism and freedom of the press,” stressed Paul Mongault, 21, a railway worker, aware that “it’s also the younger generations who are making the RN rise.”

In Rennes, in the rally organized at midday at the call in particular of the CGT, the CFDT, FO and Solidaires, Wilfried Lemaréchal, general secretary of the CFDT Ile-et-Vilaine, came to “say no to the threat that the RN poses to democracy.”

In Lille, the demonstrators, many of whom were health sector workers, called for “unity among 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.