“March of freedoms”: the whole left marches against the extreme right

On a curb near the Place de Clichy in Paris, two young people are seized with doubts: “If this is the fight against fascism, we are in a bad way …” … “whatever the political party, left, right, center or extreme, everyone tries to manipulate us to get the votes they need … and as we have all become ignorant of everything, after an extremely strict period, today everyone is turns towards him designates another. Can a body live without one of its parts? … whether left or right! … France is like a body because we seek to mutilate it for political ends whatever the party.
I think that today, whatever the means, everyone seeks to easily transmit manipulation and revolt in order to obtain their place. ”

The March for Freedoms and Against the Far Right. Called on by more than 110 organizations (unions, associations, political parties) in 140 French cities, it is supposed to materialize a burst of left-wing forces, in the face of extremist discourse that has plagued public debates for many weeks. In the capital, the crowd ended up reaching around 9,000 people according to the police, 70,000 according to the organizers, who identified 150,000 participants throughout France.

Of those that in any case it still keeps: mobilizing against the extreme right. This whole political family – as well as environmentalists – marched on Saturday, June 12, in nearly 120 cities in France, against “far-right ideas and attacks on freedoms”.

There were thus more than a hundred political organizations – from the public square to the New anti-capitalist party, via Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV) and Génération.s, the Communist Party and the Socialists having called for each to demonstrate on their own -, but also many associations (including SOS Racisme, the League of Human Rights, Cimade, Oxfam or Attac, Youth for Climate and France Nature Environment), as well as unions (FSU, CGT, Solidaires, l ‘ UNEF, etc.). The arc was so wide that even deputies elected in 2017 under the label La République en Marche (LRM) were present on Saturday, such as Guillaume Chiche (Deux-Sèvres) or Aurélien Taché (Val-d’Oise).

The only incident: the infaration of the leader of La France insoumise (LFI), Jean-Luc Mélenchon, before the start of the parade at the Place de Clichy, by a young man who presented himself as a “sovereignist” and who appears to be close to far-right ideas. The Bouches-du-Rhône deputy and candidate for the 2022 presidential election denounced to the press an act “cowardly” but which “could have been worse”.

In the process, the man behind the throwing of flour, who had shouted “collabo” before his action and defined himself as “on the left”, describing those present at the demonstration as “real fascists”. “The left has been taken over by the minorities”, he explained, before denouncing “the entire French political caste”. He ended up being kicked out of the procession.

Asked about any political affiliation, the man said he was “sovereignist in the idea that the destruction of nations will allow authorities to rise higher and therefore to be less close to the people”: “I am for a return to the local, I am for many things that are obvious to everyone, ”he continued.

The alleged perpetrator of the floury was arrested for “willful violence” on the elected official and placed in police custody at the end of the day.
The episode comes four days after the slap in the face of Emmanuel Macron by a man who had slipped among the supporters of the head of state, during his trip to the Drôme.

Still, the demonstration went smoothly, without scuffles or tension, with an extremely discreet police presence. In addition to the appellant organizations, there were also many anti-fascists present.

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