Protests and tension as far-right French candidates hold rival rallies
Police intervened to break up anti-racism protests ahead of the rally held by far-right wing presidential candidate Eric Zemmour in the northern city of Lille on Saturday, while his rival Marine Le Pen held a meeting for supporters in Reims the same day.
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Around 1,100 people including some 200 far-left partisans showed up for a protest rally against Eric Zemmour, who held a meeting for around 8,000 of his supporters at the Grand Palais in Lille.
Their banners read statements such as "Join forces...bring them to their knees" and "Everyone hates Zemmour", journalists reported from the scene.
Between 250 and 300 police officers were deployed to keep the event in check.
Tear gas was fired at one point to disperse the crowd, and three people from left wing "antifas" (anti-fascist) groups were detained.
Earlier in the day, around 500 people gathered in the city centre, including Socialist mayor Martine Aubry and members of the NGO SOS Racisme, who organised the rally.
Nous étions nombreux ce matin à Lille, pour dire Non au candidat de l’extrême droite. Non au racisme, Non à l’antisémitisme, Non à la haine ! #sosracisme #Lille #ZemmourLille #ZemmourEric pic.twitter.com/oZCVhIlrXe
— SOS Racisme - #NonAuRacisme (@SOS_Racisme) February 5, 2022
Zemmour, a former TV pundit and best-selling author made a dramatic entrance into front-line politics in November, making him briefly the most talked-about challenger to President Emmanuel Macron.
Since his announcement to run however, his poll numbers have slipped, with recent polls showing he could win 13 percent of the vote in the first round of April's election, putting him fourth behind Macron, conservative challenger Valérie Pécresse and Le Pen.
With three convictions for hate speech, he is decried by anti-racism groups and political opponents for stigmatising people from Muslim backgrounds in France, who are thought to number more than five million.
As well as claiming that white French people are being deliberately replaced with immigrants, he has previously said that Islam is incompatible with French values.
Spring cleaning
200 kms away, in the eastern city of Reims, Marine Le Pen held her own meeting, with around 3,000 supporters, promising to offer "concrete solutions".
Around 100 people protested against her event with banners reading "Get out extreme right, Le Pen, Zemmour and company".
Marine Le Pen, who came in second in the last presidential election in 2017, is holding what’s billed as her first major campaign event in a bid to reinvigorate her base after some high-profile defections to Zemmour's camp.
On se retrouve à 18h pour mon grand discours de #Reims ! 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/84JuA0GcPo
— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) February 5, 2022
The leader of the National Rally (RN) party called on Zemmour to do some "spring cleaning" with reference to the Zouaves, an extremist group accused of attacking some activists from the SOS Racisme group during his last political rally on 5 December near Paris.
On Friday Le Pen was quoted by Le Figaro daily as slamming Zemmour for his "communitarianism" and for attracting "aggressive" people to his ranks such as "traditional Catholics", "pagans" and "some Nazis".
Le Pen, a member of parliament, has been working for a decade to clean up the image of her National Rally party and build up its political base, to make it more palatable to a broader swath of voters and improve her chances at the presidency.
Both Le Pen and Zemmour are hoping to unseat Macron in the two-round election April 10 and 24.
Macron has a campaign team in place but has yet to officially declare his candidacy. A centrist, he has shifted to the right amid growing support for conservative and far-right policies, notably on security and immigration.
Both Le Pen and Zemmour want tougher rules on immigration, including less state aid for migrants. Both oppose wind farms and want more support for nuclear energy. Le Pen, who used to campaign to leave the EU and the euro, now wants instead to reform it from within.
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