Thousands gathered in Pari to protest against the court decision effectively banning Marine Le Pen from the 2027 presidential election.
Thousands of people gathered in Paris on Sunday to protest the court decision effectively banning National Rally leader Marine Le Pen from running in the 2027 presidential election, in which she is the undisputed frontrunner.
According to organisers, an estimated ten thousand people descended upon the Place Vauban square outside the Hôtel des Invalides complex in Paris, notable for being the location of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s tomb. They showed their support for National Rally leader Marine Le Pen after a court banned her from standing in elections for five years over alleged embezzlement of EU funds, a ruling that she has appealed.
Ahead of the demonstration, Mrs Le Pen vowed that protests against the election ban would be a “peaceful” and “democratic fight” that would be inspired by the peaceful civil disobedience of figures like Martin Luther King Jr. in the United States.
Addressing the crowd at the Place Vauban, Le Pen said, per Le Figaro, “Everyone, be reassured: I won’t give up.”
She denounced “the perverse game” of the “persecution of opponents, criminalisation of opponents, the desire to ruin opposition parties with a single objective: to keep power while leading the country to chaos.
