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PROTESTS

IN PICTURES: Hundreds of thousands protest against far right in France

Around 640,000 people took to the streets in France on Saturday to protest against the far right, French trade union CGT said.

Published: 15 June 2024 18:21 CEST
A protester holds a placard which reads
A protester holds a placard which reads "Angry youth, on June 30, we vote for the Nouveau Front Populaire" during a demonstration against the far right, in Dijon, central eastern France, on June 15, 2024. (Photo by ARNAUD FINISTRE / AFP)

The CGT said there were 182 demonstrations across the country.

The demonstrations were called by trade unions, associations and the newly formed left-wing alliance the Nouveau Front Populaire less than a week after French President Emmanuel Macron called snap legislative elections after the far right made significant gains in European Parliament elections.

Protesters gather during an anti far-right rally  in Paris on June 15, 2024. (Photo by Sameer Al-Doumy / AFP)

The CGT said 250,000 people protested in Paris, while the police put the number in the capital at 75,000.

 
Demonstrators hold placards, union flags and banners at an anti far-right rally in Dijon, south-eastern France on June 15, 2024. One protester holds a banner reading “Rather the Front Populaire than the children of [Vichy leader] Petain”. (Photo by ARNAUD FINISTRE / AFP)
 
 
 

 
Demonstrators march with placards during an anti far-right rally in Nantes on June 15, 2024. (Photo by ROMAIN PERROCHEAU / AFP)

And in Rennes, 25,000 demonstrators (according to the organisers, or 12,000 according to the police), joined the Pride March, where rainbow flags mixed with Palestinian flags.

“Democracy can be lost at any moment,” said Florence Audebert, 40, who used to work in the entertainment industry.

“I have often voted usefully, Chirac in 2002 against Jean-Marie Le Pen, then Macron against Marine Le Pen… So I am happy to have left-wing candidates to vote for in these legislative elections!” she added.

 
Demonstrators react as they are enveloped by tear gas during an anti far-right rally in Rennes, western France on June 15, 2024. (Photo by LOU BENOIST / AFP)
 
The first tensions broke out shortly before 4pm at Rennes’ Place de Bretagne with police firing tear gas, according to an AFP journalist.
 
The police said that a few people were responsible for damage to banks, estate agencies, street furniture and throwing projectiles at the police, along the protest route. 
 

 
A demonstrator throws back a tear gas canister fired by police during an anti far-right rally in Nantes on June 15, 2024. (Photo by ROMAIN PERROCHEAU / AFP)
 
In Nantes, the procession brought together 15,000 people according to the organisers, 8,500 according to the police, including many young people.
 

“The RN is like your ex: he says he’s changed but it’s not true”, a sign from a group of environmental law students read.  

Among them, Léonie Leblanc, 19, voted for the first time last week. “For a first election, such a result saddens me a lot. It will be tense but I believe in the Nouveau Front Populaire,” she said.

 
A protester wearing an astronaut costume holds a placard reading “I come from the future and we have won” during an anti far-right rally in Nantes on June 15, 2024. (Photo by ROMAIN PERROCHEAU / AFP)
 
In the Nantes procession, a same-sex family, Chloé Mahouet-Pujol alongside his wife Natacha and their two and a half year old daughter in a stroller, is worried: “we are trying to have a second child and we are wondering what will happen to the rights of homosexual and LGBTQI+ people.”
 

 
Protesters chant and hold placards during a demonstration against the far right, in Toulouse on June 15, 2024. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP)
 
Around 4.30pm, the Nantes procession split in two, with some of the demonstrators returning to the starting point in a good-natured atmosphere to the sound of a fanfare, while a hundred metres away groups of young people faced the police in a haze of tear gas, said an AFP correspondent, before calm returned.
 

The Loire-Atlantique police recorded five arrests and “no major damage”.

 

 
A protester holds a placard which reads “Rise up and vote Front Populaire” during a demonstration against the far right, in Dijon, central eastern France, on June 15, 2024. (Photo by ARNAUD FINISTRE / AFP)
 
Further demos are planned for Sunday, according to the trade unions, including in Lyon.
 
 

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FRENCH ELECTIONS

Who are France’s ‘ni-ni’ people?

They might sound like something out of a Monthy Python film, but the 'ni-ni's could end up determining the course of the French election.

Published: 27 June 2024 11:26 CEST
Who are France's 'ni-ni' people?

In among the fevered speculation about France’s snap legislative elections – in which the far-right Rassemblement National is currently leading the polls – you may have heard talk of les ni-nis.

In French the word ni means neither or nor, and it is used regularly in everyday conversation – Je n’aime ni la bière ni le vin (I like neither beer, nor wine).

In a political context, it means rejection of both of the main or poll-leading parties, and it is important because of France’s two-round voting system.

Snap elections

In the current snap parliamentary elections – with polling days on June 30th and July 7th – the two groups leading the polls are Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National party and the Nouveau Front Populaire, an alliance of the four main parties of the left (the hard-left La France Insoumise, the centre-left Parti Socialiste, the Greens and the Communists).

Although the left alliance consists of four parties, it is dominated by the biggest – La France Insoumise. The party’s hard-line economic positions and recent accusations of anti-Semitism have made them unpalatable to some voters, especially those in the centre or centre-left.

All of which means, that a significant chunk of voters are saying “Ni RN, ni NFP” – neither Rassemblement National, nor Nouveau Front Populaire.

Among those seem to be at least some in Emmanuel Macron’s centrist group, the president himself describes both groups as ‘les extremes‘.

Two rounds

It’s pretty common in elections around the world to find plenty of voters who don’t like either of the main parties on offer.

What makes ‘les ni-nis‘ more significant in France is the two-round voting system – voters head to the polls once and choose from any of the array of candidates standing in their seat. The highest scorers from round one then go through to a second round, and voters go back to the polls a week later and vote on the second-round candidates.

READ ALSO How does France’s two-round voting system work?

Current polling suggests that in a significant number of constituencies, the second round will come down to a run-off between candidates from Rassemblement National and the Nouveau Front Populaire.

At which point les ni-nis will have to decide whether they truly can’t vote for either of the candidates.

They have the choice of either abstaining, casting a vote blanc (blank ballot paper) or picking the candidate they dislike the least.

What they decide could well end up determining France’s next government.

You can follow all the latest election news HERE or sign up to receive by email our bi-weekly election breakdown

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