Opponents of Jean-Marie Le Pen gather across France to celebrate his death: “This dirty racist is dead”

Several hundred opponents of Jean-Marie Le Pen gathered on Tuesday January 7 in several cities in France to celebrate, with songs, smoke bombs and fireworks, the disappearance of this far-right figure.

“This dirty racist is dead”said in Paris a sign brandished in the crowd of a few hundred people which formed at the start of the evening at Place de la République, and where a few flags of the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA) flew.

“Youth annoys the National Front”chanted participants, some of whom had climbed on the central statue, while others launched anti-fascist slogans, noted journalists from Agence France-Presse (AFP). There, as in Lyon, some fireworks were set off.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing, justifies dancing on a corpse. The death of a man, even a political opponent, should inspire only restraint and dignity. These scenes of jubilation are simply shameful”commented the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, on X.

In Lyon, some 200 to 300 people gathered around 7 p.m. in the city center, noted an AFP journalist, at the call of the ultra-left, in order to “party” after the death of Jean-Marie Le Pen, as stated in the appeal launched on the Rebellyon account, on X.

“The death of a character we hate”

In Marseille, where between 200 and 300 people gathered in the Old Port according to AFP journalists on site, the atmosphere was also festive, between bottles of champagne, small party hats and this sign: ” Finally “.

“It’s the death of a character that we hate, because he was misogynist, racist, Holocaust denier, anti-Semitic and all that. We must celebrate when such hateful characters die”explained to AFP Louise Delporte, a 20-year-old political science student.

“It’s a dying symbol and it’s really good to know that. A symbol of an extreme right which no longer has any meaning today. Unfortunately, she still exists and we must remember that she must not be alive”rejoiced Vivien Perez, a young 24-year-old musician.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, a figure of the French far right who reached the second round of the 2002 presidential election, died Tuesday at the age of 96 in the Paris region, in an establishment where he had been admitted there several weeks ago. Large-scale demonstrations were organized across France in the spring of 2002 against his qualification for the second round of the presidential election which pitted him against Jacques Chirac.