French right -right leader Marine Le Pen said on Sunday that she will fight peacefully against running a public office for five years and is inspired by the American leader for civil rights, Martin Luther King Jr., while thousands of people gathered in Paris to support her.
A Paris Court sentenced Le Pen and two dozen members of the National Meeting Party (RN) last week for abuse of EU
“We will follow Martin Luther King as an example,” said Le Pen in a video view for Matteo Salvini’s Italian anti-immigration party, which held a meeting in Florence.
“Our struggle will be a peaceful struggle, a democratic struggle. We will follow Martin Luther King, who defended civil rights as an example.”
Le Pen’s supporters aroused French flags and shouted “we will win” when they gathered at the center of Paris on Sunday afternoon for a protest, which can give an indication of how popular support exists for their accusations that the prosecutors in the case sought their “political death.”
Retired Marie-Claude Bonnefont, 79, said she was against “this parody of a decision against Le Pen.”
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“We should really question the impartial of the judges,” another protests told the political science student Typeine Quere, to Reuters.
There was no immediate police estimate on participation in Sunday’s protest, but the organizers said that about 15,000 people gathered.
Le Pen still forward
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The Court’s decision was a tough blow for Le Pen, 56.
Le Pen appealed against the court’s decision and promised on Sunday to use all tools and legal means to be run in 2027. The court said it will issue a decision on the appeal in the summer of 2026.
An opinion poll conducted by Elabe on Saturday showed that Le Pen is still a favorite to win the first round of the presidential election, with support between 32% and 36%, before former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, which has between 20.5% and 24% of the vote’s intentions.
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However, Le Pen’s attacks and his allies about “judge tyranny” did not get strength, even among some of his followers, especially after the main judge was placed in his case during police protection after death threats.
Most of the French see no problems with the court decision.
About 65% of respondents said that “they were not shocked” with the verdict and 54% said that Le Pen was treated like all other respondents, according to an Odox survey.
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All over the city, at Place de la Republique, the Left Party’s supporters gathered in a counter -manifestation to protest against Le Pen’s attacks on the French state.
Centerist politicians, including two former ministers, Gabriel Atal and Philippe, were also gathered on Sunday to show a united front against RN.
“Let’s keep this commitment to the morality of political life and our institutions at a time when they are being challenged by the far right, which gather today to attack our judges, to attack our institutions,” said Attal.