In Paris, Lyon and Marseille, hundreds of people gathered to celebrate the death of Jean-Marie Le Pen this Tuesday, January 7, 2025.
Several hundred opponents of Jean-Marie Le Pen gathered Tuesday evening in several cities in France to celebrate, with songs, smoke bombs and fireworks, the death of this historic figure of the extreme right.
“This dirty racist is dead,” said a sign in Paris held up in the crowd of a few hundred people who formed in the early evening at Place de la République, where a few flags of the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA) were flying.
“The youth piss off the National Front,” chanted participants, some of whom had climbed onto the central statue, while others launched anti-fascist slogans, noted AFP journalists. There, as in Lyon, some fireworks were set off.
Bruno Retailleau denounces “shameful scenes”
“Nothing, absolutely nothing, justifies dancing on a corpse. The death of a man, even a political opponent, should only inspire restraint and dignity. These scenes of jubilation are simply shameful” , commented Interior Minister 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 “celebrate” after the death of Jean- Marie Le Pen, as said in the appeal launched on the Rebellyon account, on X.
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, negationist, anti-Semitic and all that. We must celebrate when such hateful characters die,” explained Louise Delporte, a student in political science for 20 years.
Died at 96
“It’s a symbol that is dying and it’s really good to know that. A symbol of an extreme right that no longer has any meaning today. Unfortunately, it still exists and we must remember that it should not not be alive”, rejoiced Vivien Perez, a young musician of 24 years old.
Jean-Marie Le Pen, figure of the French extreme right and finalist in the 2002 presidential election, died Tuesday at the age of 96 in the Paris region, in an establishment where he had been admitted several weeks ago.
Massive 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.
