The funeral of Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died Tuesday at the age of 96, began this Saturday early in the afternoon in the church of his hometown of La Trinité-sur-Mer, in the presence of his family and a few relatives. Marine Le Pen and one of her two sisters, Marie-Caroline, followed by several members of their family, walked the few hundred meters between the family home and the small Saint-Joseph church, under a blue sky, in front of a small crowd of curious people and several dozen journalists.
In total, around 200 people were to take their places inside the church for this ceremony scheduled to last 1h30, while a large police force was deployed to avoid any incident. The former leader of the French far right must then be buried in the vault where his parents rest, in the cemetery located a few hundred meters from the church.
“Two or three more or less unfortunate words”
Among the guests is the former MP and former right-hand man of Jean-Marie Le Pen, Bruno Gollnisch. “It is moving for me to pay my last respects to him here and to pray for the salvation of his soul,” he testified. He is someone who has undoubtedly marked my existence. He was not at all consistent with the image that some want to give of him today based on two or three more or less unfortunate words, very far from being representative of all his work, his intelligence, his culture, of his warm temperament, imperious certainly, but warm. He was a happy friend! »
“I came as a curious person, to pay tribute to a man who served France and who loved France,” explains Johann, 40, who lives not far away in Auray. “We came to pay tribute to a great man who had the courage to say things,” says Ludovic, 43 years old. He was a visionary. He loved France and its people and they had values that are being lost, like love of the nation. »
-Important safety feature
Numerous police forces were deployed in the town of around 1,700 people and the port. Around a hundred of them, including a squadron of mobile gendarmes, were mobilized to avoid any excess, according to a source close to the matter. Friday, the prefect of Morbihan Pascal Bolot issued an order prohibiting demonstrations in the town, given that “the political personality of the deceased” was “likely to attract, on the sidelines of the religious ceremony and the burial, a large crowd composed of both sympathizers but also possibly opponents.”
Another ceremony, “religious and of homage”, will take place on January 16 at 11 a.m. in the Notre-Dame-du Val-de-Grâce church in Paris, attached to the diocese to the French Armies. This mass, decided by Marine Le Pen and her sisters Marie-Caroline and Yann, will be open to the public. Both events should remain conducive to contemplation, said Louis Aliot, vice-president of the RN.
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