With France shaken by weeks of unrest and surging prices, Marine Le Pen used her first campaign speech for next year’s presidential race to promise a tougher state — and, she said, a return to “the rule of law” if she wins.
Ms Le Pen, the far-right candidate seeking to succeed President Emmanuel Macron, enters the campaign as the polling frontrunner and appears to be gaining from the tense national climate, marked by mass cost-of-living rallies and outbreaks of violence yesterday and last week.
“We are going to restore the rule of law,” she said, speaking in the wake of looting and arson that flared on the margins of demonstrations last weekend.
She delivered her address to 8,500 supporters of her nationalist, anti-immigration party in Orléans — a city closely tied to the story of Joan of Arc, a figure revered by the far right as an emblem of national resistance after lifting an English siege there in 1429.
Marine Le Pen was giving the first speech of her campaign to become the French president
“We are proposing for the country not a return to the past, but the dawn of a new era,” the 58-year-old told the crowd, which answered with chants of “We’re going to win, we’re going to win.”
She pledged to safeguard France’s cultural identity — its language, traditions, values and way of life — drawing cheers from supporters waving French flags.
“We want France to regain its strength,” she said.
In the audience was Charlene Malingre, wearing a scarf printed with the words “Marine President,” who said she has grown increasingly worried about insecurity across the country.
“I think Marine Le Pen could save France from the state it’s in today… particularly when it comes to the economy, security and maintaining law and order,” the 23-year-old told AFP.
Over 400,000 march over cost of living
More than 400,000 people marched in major French cities yesterday to denounce the rising cost of living, and clashes broke out after groups of masked protesters broke away from the main demonstrations.
Police made more than 1,300 arrests, while Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez attributed much of the violence to “ultra-left” extremists.
Unrest also punctuated similar nationwide protests last week, coming after four weeks of student demonstrations over the poor state of France’s schools.
Unions and Yellow Vest protesters say they intend to continue their street marches in the weeks ahead.
Security staff remove a woman who was protesting from the rally
Ms Le Pen took the stage after deciding to run in elections beginning in April, even though an appeals court has upheld a graft conviction against her.
She has argued that Mr Macron’s centrist government has shown too light a touch toward violent protesters and has failed to project authority.
“Who can claim that there is a rule of law when hordes come to ransack and burn our buildings?” she said.
The veteran standard-bearer of the anti-immigration party — now making her fourth run for the presidency — also promised stricter immigration rules.
“We will restore our borders, and even establish double borders, both French and European,” she said.
“French nationality will once again become a privilege that is either inherited or earned,” she said.
Counter protests
Her deputy, Jordan Bardella, won a standing ovation before Ms Le Pen appeared, pledging a crackdown on the “ultra-left,” a reduction of the age of criminal responsibility to 16, and the deportation of “delinquents and criminals.”
The 31-year-old’s speech was briefly disrupted when members of a Jewish student union unfurled a banner citing a French media report that alleged he had deleted antisemitic messages from an old Facebook account.
Police filtered traffic into Orléans after thousands of counter-protesters opposed to Ms Le Pen and her anti-immigration, nationalist RN marched through the city yesterday, chanting anti-fascist slogans.
“If the far right comes to power, we fear things will become much worse,” 35-year-old yoga teacher Antonine Rochet said yesterday.
Ms Le Pen has said that if she wins the two-stage presidential elections in April and May, she would seek to ease the cost-of-living squeeze by capping household energy bills, cutting taxes and reducing France’s contribution to the European Union.
She has also voiced criticism of NATO and of France’s support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
Polling suggests anger at Mr Macron — including perceptions of detachment over his two terms and backlash to his recent orders to curb protests — is pushing some voters toward more extremist politics.
An Ipsos survey published yesterday put Ms Le Pen at 32%-34% in the first round.
The poll also pointed to widespread frustration over the unrest, with a majority saying the government bears responsibility.
Whoever prevails will inherit tight fiscal constraints, with France’s debt and budget deficit already above EU limits and Mr Macron’s government struggling to advance a cost-cutting budget.
