On this Thursday, June 27, and as in the previous two weeks, a demonstration organized by the main trade union organizations of Roannais was held in Roanne to protest against the far-right.
At 6 p.m., the time the demonstration was announced to begin, the crowd on Place Georges-Clemenceau was not large. But as soon as they had climbed the first few meters to reach Rue Maréchal-Foch, many demonstrators joined the procession, which was made up not only of trade union organizations, but also of activists from the New Popular Front and the candidate for the 5th constituency, Ismaël Stevenson, accompanied by his substitute Émilie Pissaruk and his campaign manager Mahdi Nouibat, who had just left Yves Nicolin’s municipal majority.
The demonstrators left the Roanne courthouse and headed to the sub-prefecture. © Karl Pasquet
The demonstration, which started from the Roanne court, reached the Loire sub-prefecture via the pedestrian street. Despite a slowdown in mobilization compared to the first demonstration on June 14, around 200 people took part in this new protest march in the city center of Roanne, which had the slogan: “Against the extreme right: make a popular front!” A stable figure compared to that of the rally against the IUT last week.
The youth were present in the procession and had a message to convey. © Karl Pasquet
Sophie Cuisson, general secretary of the CGT local union in Roannais, was satisfied with the mobilization of this Thursday evening given the context in which these legislative elections are taking place: “The elections are coming at a very bad time. The first demonstration was more massive because people were in shock But now, the elections are happening really badly, we are on vacation, there are a lot of retirees on vacation and they are not here today, the young people too… But. We are very satisfied.”
Some demonstrators came with signs and slogans.
“Sunday is only halftime” for Ismaël Stevenson
The candidate of the New Popular Front was present at the demonstration, on conquered ground, and appeared satisfied with the campaign he led and optimistic about his chances of reaching the second round on Sunday.
Ismaël Stevenson at the demonstration against the far-right in Roanne on June 27, three days before the first round of the legislative elections. © Karl Pasquet
“We have covered many kilometers since our inauguration: 1,800 km in ten days, by car, on foot, I don’t even know, we don’t stop, we are everywhere, we talk a lot with people, we try to to present our program, what interests us is to defend the ideas that we carry to politicize people, that they get away from a personalization of politics and that they are interested in the ideas. does the most harm to politics today is its personalization. People will vote for Bardella because they find him beautiful, on the other hand in terms of ideas, neither.
Satisfied with the feedback he has had on the ground, he is determined to throw his last forces into the battle this Friday before the start of the electoral reserve period on Saturday at 00:01: “Here, we are finishing the first half, the second half will start on Monday” for the second round campaign, for the one who considers, with a smile on his lips, that he “will be in the second round”.
Karl Pasquet
