France, thousands in the streets against Le Pen’s far right

The marches in Paris, which started from République and arrived at Place de la Nation passing through the Bastille, were very colourful, especially in red, with numerous Palestinian flags and representatives of parties, unions, associations, two weeks after the vote for the first round of anticipated legislation. For everyone, the certainty that France “is in a crucial moment for democracy”, as said by trade unionist Marylise Léon, secretary of the CFDT. At the Parisian march, many leaders of the left were in the front row, from the ecologist Yannick Jadot to the socialist Olivier Faure. Even more demonstrators who recognized them and tried to approach them with the cry: “Don’t betray us”. The echoes of the new cracks in the Popular Front had reached all the demonstrators, the accusations against Mélenchon of “settling scores” or “purging” against those who expressed dissent for the line chosen by the party leaders were the topic of greatest discussion . The leader, challenged, then responded to the accusations by stating concisely that “there are no candidacies for life”, but that “political coherence and loyalty in the first parliamentary group of the gauche they are also a requirement for governing”. As for the possibility – feared by many allies – that he will be the candidate for the post of prime minister in the event of victory of the Front, the controversial tribune of the left has made it clear that he does not consider it one of his ambition: “For me it’s not an existential issue, I’m not here to build a career.”