Despite the shock of Marine Le Pen’s recent conviction, France’s far-right National Rally showed no signs of shifting course as party leaders gathered in Paris on Sunday. Framing the event as a
protest against Le Pen’s court ruling, senior figures fiercely defended her but offered little in the way of a clear path forward.
Thousands of supporters assembled near the Invalides dome—Napoleon’s resting place—under the banner of “saving democracy.” Le Pen, defiant on stage, declared, “I won’t give in,” after receiving a five-year ban from holding public office due to a conviction in the European Parliament assistants’ fraud case. Unless overturned on appeal in 2026, the ruling bars her from running in the 2027 presidential election.
“This is not justice—it’s politics,” Le Pen told the crowd, accusing a biased judicial system of trying to block her from power. She called for “peaceful and democratic, popular and patriotic resistance,” in a nod to the civil rights era, referencing Martin Luther King Jr.
Jordan Bardella, the party’s president and Le Pen’s protégé, echoed her sentiments in a wide-ranging speech citing Napoleon and Athenian democracy. He reaffirmed his loyalty to their “trusted duo” leadership.
Messages of support from international allies, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Italy’s Matteo Salvini, and former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, were broadcast during the rally.
No clear plan forward
While the event rallied support, it offered no concrete strategy for navigating the fallout of Le Pen’s legal troubles. Party leaders adopted a “wait and see” stance, hinging hopes on a successful appeal.
Le Pen also lashed out at the EU and its anti-fraud office, OLAF, accusing it of flouting legal norms and acting with “authoritarian brutality.”
The National Rally maintains it has gained momentum since the ruling, claiming 500,000 petition signatures and 20,000 new members—figures that remain unverified. Some attendees, like 22-year-old Anthony, said they were inspired to join the party after the rally.
Tensions and counter-protests
Despite heavy police presence, tensions rose during the event. Several journalists were harassed and even pushed by far-right attendees. One protester, William, 25, told Euractiv he was there to denounce what he called “state-orchestrated attacks” on the party, claiming he no longer feels safe in his Paris suburb, citing the number of young people “praying to Allah.”
Elsewhere in the city, left-wing groups including La France Insoumise (LFI) and the Greens held counter-protests, rejecting what they see as Le Pen’s attempt to cast herself as a victim. “We reject the victimhood narrative of Le Pen and the RN,” leftist leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon wrote on X.
Meanwhile, members of the government pushed back against international support for Le Pen. French Prime Minister François Bayrou criticized former U.S. President Donald Trump’s endorsement, calling it “foreign interference”—a view echoed by ex-Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. Photo by Rémi Noyon, Wikimedia commons.