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Million march against lepen Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&u=/nm/20020501/wl_nm/france_election_dc_97http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&u=/nm/20020501/wl_nm/france_election_dc_97
Million March in France Against Le Pen
Wed May 1,11:04 AM ET
By Joelle Diderich and Paul Carrel
PARIS (Reuters) - Over one million marchers turned May Day in France into a mammoth protest against Jean-Marie Le Pen on Wednesday as the far-right leader fired up his supporters with a fierce attack on election rival President Jacques Chirac.
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Rally to Support Le Pen in France (AP)
Chanting "N like Nazi, F like Fascist," demonstrators took to the streets and squares of over 110 towns and cities as well as many villages in a carnival-like atmosphere four days before a runoff vote between Chirac and National Front leader Le Pen.
"Seventeen percent on the Hitler scale," read one banner at a huge march in Paris, recalling the political earthquake (news - web sites) that struck France last month when the anti-immigrant firebrand came second to the conservative Chirac in an initial round of voting.
"Joan of Arc spoke to me and told me to vote Chirac," said another placard in a dig a Le Pen's adoption of the medieval national heroine as his party's patron saint.
The Interior Ministry said 870,000 demonstrators had turned out in the provinces alone by 3 p.m. (9 a.m. EDT).
In Paris, police said 250,000 protesters joined a march that was snaking through the Place de la Bastille, the heart of France's 1789 Revolution and its values of liberty, equality and fraternity. Organizers put the Paris crowd at half a million.
The national turnout made Wednesday, Labour Day in Europe, by far the biggest protest against Le Pen since he stunned the continent with 17 percent of the vote on April 21, edging Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin out of the contest.
"I'm proud to be French...It's important to get out on the streets," said Jean-Francois Valles, a 40-year-old share trader from the Paris suburbs who wore a T-shirt that screamed "Non!" (No) as he demonstrated with his wife and three children.
LE PEN SEIZES ON SLEAZE
Opinions polls have forecast Chirac will win a second term by a landslide on Sunday, backed by a rainbow coalition of mainstream political parties, pressure groups and community organizations rallied behind him to stop Le Pen.
But the 73-year-old former paratrooper, who once called the Holocaust a "detail" of history, derided the predictions at his own rally in the capital's Place de l'Opera square.
Seizing on sleaze allegations that have dogged Chirac, he branded his Gaullist rival the "godfather" of a corrupt political system and said he could beat him on Sunday.
"The incumbent president is the godfather of the clans who are bleeding the country dry," he told cheering supporters.
"He stinks of corruption. He is dripping with money."
"The choice is clear. Come and vote for me," Le Pen said after a two-hour march by Front faithful chanting "France for the French" and "Chirac to Prison, Le Pen to the Elysee."
Police said up to 10,000 people turned out for the National Front, well up on last year's rally. They dismissed a claim by the party that 120,000 had flocked to the gathering.
Up to 3,500 police were on the streets of Paris to prevent a repeat of previous May Day violence between supporters and opponents of the far right, but there were no immediate reports of serious disturbances either in the capital or the provinces.
Le Pen, an also-ran in three past presidential bids, capitalized on deep disaffection with France's leaders and fears about crime, immigration and globalization.
Chirac scored less than 20 percent of the vote, a record low for a frontrunner, with nearly one third of the electorate abstaining and 30 percent backing candidates on the extremes.
DISENCHANTMENT
"I wasn't shocked by Le Pen's result, not because of the racism but because of the despair. There's a lot that isn't working in people's lives." said Laurent Duchassin, a 37-year-old math teacher demonstrating against Le Pen in Lyon.
Similar sentiments were echoed by some of Le Pen's supporters on a march that included extreme right activists from Italy, Sweden, Belgium and Poland.
"France is sick. Chirac hasn't done what he should have, and nor has Jospin," said Diane Renaud, a 53-year-old Parisian marching for Le Pen in the capital.
Le Pen has said that if he wins, he would hold referendums to take France out of the euro currency, renegotiate European Union (news - web sites) treaties and "stop and reverse" immigration to France, which has western Europe's biggest Muslim population.
"Le Pen is the only way to avoid globalization. He wants to build a new Europe, a Europe that lets us keep our identity." said Xavier Deguillage, a 37-year-old computer engineer from Versailles outside Paris who marched for the National Front.
Chirac has denied corruption allegations stemming from his long decades in public office and appears assured of broad, if reluctant, backing at the polls with a swathe of support ranging from the Catholic Church to Gay Pride and anarchist groups.
While Jospin's battered Socialists have joined in the backing for their conservative rival, some of Chirac's most bitter critics have suggested voters should cast their ballot for him wearing gloves, masks or clothes pegs on their noses.
"For the first time in my life I'll vote for the right," said Jean-Michel Arroyas, 37, a teacher marching against Le Pen in the eastern town of Nancy.
"It makes me feel sick but Chirac is the only one who is at least slightly democratic," Arroyas said. "It's become a referendum against fascism."
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