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Over one million and a half people rally against the extreme-right in France today
More than a million people demonstrated peacefully throughout France on Wednesday against extreme-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, by far the largest turnout yet against the ultra-nationalist politician since he qualified for Sunday's presidential runoff. According to the Interior Ministry, about 900,000 were protesting against the far-right in several hundred cities across France. Demonstrators were chanting "F like Fascist, N like Nazi" (the initials of this extreme-right party are FN) or using some more festive expressions which are very hard to translate in english. Now, in Paris, the protest is not over finished. The last protesters are still Place de la République as I'm typing this (believe me, this was a huge event). Acoording to the police, there were about 400,000 people in Paris (and 900,000 according to the organizers). By contrast, his morning, the extreme-right walk only gathered 8,000 persons. With over a million and a half people in the streets marching against racism, xenophopia and anti-semitism, I feel better than last Sunday. But we'll have to wait until May 5 dor the results of the french presidential elections. My message to all french people: vote Chirac next Sunday, especially if you usually vote for the left!! Sources: Le Monde; Libération; Jamey Keaten, Associated Press; Reuters.
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