Thousands of protesters joined French Marines in Paris to protest the far-right wingers who were banned from the next presidential election.
The rally’s lead spokesman Le Pen said the ruling was an attack on the will of the people and the fight against the truth. “I won’t give up,” she said, insisting that her honor had been trampled on.
Le Pen’s party is the National Rally (RN), calling for the event and expects up to 10,000 participants. The rally does not seem to fill the square of the Paris landmark in hôteldes Invalides.
On Monday, the court convicted Le Pen, whose party and other party officials misappropriated EU funds. She was sentenced to partial moratorium on jail and was banned from running for five years in the election.
Parallel to the RN Rally, there were two counter-protests a few kilometers away from Paris.
According to the organizers, about 15,000 people gathered at the place after the call for action by the left-wing French La Insoumise and Greens.
Counter-protesters opposed the rise of the far right and called for the maintenance of the rule of law.
Meanwhile, Renaissance supporters of President Emmanuel Macron showed off outside a planned party in the suburbs of the French capital. Party leader Gabriel Attal accused RN of attacking judges and French institutions with his actions.
Le Pen appealed the verdict, but the proceedings could be delayed too long to allow her to participate in the 2027 presidential election. The Court of Appeal announced that it will make a ruling by the latest in summer 2026.
Marine Le Pen, the leader of the French Rassemblement National, objected at a rally found guilty of forged employment plans. Le Pen announced that despite her ban on her candidacy, she will exhaust all legal options to participate in the 2027 election. Julien de Rosa/AFP/DPA
