|
Biggest anti-Le Pen rallies
PARIS, April 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - More than 200,000 people took to the streets of France Saturday as opposition to the presidential candidacy of far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen gathered momentum.
In the biggest single protest since the National Front (FN) leader's stunning first round success on April 21, 45,000 demonstrators responded to a call from left wing groups and trade unions for a march through the capital, police said. Organizers put the figure at 100,000.
The march left the Place de la Republique, Paris's traditional rallying point, mid-afternoon before proceeding via Bastille to Place de la Nation in the far east of the capital.
Big demonstrations took place where some 20,000 people marched in 20 cities and towns nationwide, notably in the east and south of the country, where Le Pen made his biggest scores. The demonstration was the city's largest in 40 years.
Police estimated more than 200,000 people joined protests throughout the country.
The 73-year-old Le Pen surprised French voters when he won enough ballots to compete in the May 5 second-round presidential elections against incumbent President Jacques Chirac.
The march was a varied, multicolored display of the diversity of the French left.
Protesters handed out leaflets urging the left to rally behind Chirac in next Sunday's second round in order to deal a smashing defeat to Le Pen, and wipe out the memory of his first round triumph.
"It is not going to be easy voting for Chirac. But we have got to do it. And if enough people vote for Chirac and he wins by a huge majority, then he will know that he is only president thanks to us -- the left," said student Laurent Paulista, 24.
Meanwhile, the first opinion poll to be published since last Sunday gave a clear victory in the May 5 second round to Chirac, with 81 percent to Le Pen's 19.
Polling institutes have been widely attacked for failing to predict Le Pen's victory over Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.
|
