The Place de la République was packed with people on Wednesday evening in Paris, four days before the second round of the legislative elections. Several associations and unions had called for mobilization against the RN. Many personalities spoke in front of a crowd that needed to express its anger and fears.
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On stage, there are a succession of trade unionists, researchers, artists and activists such as the journalist Rokhaya Diallo and the president of SOS Racisme, Dominique Sopo. Many yellow hands “Don’t touch my friend” were visible in this gathering, which gave rise to many speeches by personalities, and to mini-concerts, reports Marie Casadebaig from the France service.
” Remember that we don’t just mobilize when the far right is on the verge of power! We mobilize before, we mobilize after “, spear Rokhaya Diallo. ” I want to say that we never grow up by hitting our neighbor because he is black, Arab, Jewish, Roma, immigrant. “, continues Dominique Sopo.
The Nobel Prize for Literature, Annie Ernauxalso wanted to convey a message by video. “We must prevent the National Rally from having a majority by voting for the candidate who opposes it.” ” Asking some of us to vote on July 7 for a political opponent” East ” a difficult act “, but ” “essential if we want to save our ability to live together” the organizers stressed, referring to all the constituencies where candidates withdrew to block the RN.
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” When the extreme right is in power, it does not give up power easily, it ensures that the rule of law is destabilized, that the men in power destroy public freedoms, that everything is brought into line ” said one of the first speakers, historian Patrick Boucheron, on stage, reports AFP. ” Of course the responsibility of the left is immense. What did the left do to lose all these towns and villages that it should have conquered, invested in, transformed? Of course it will have to be more ambitious tomorrow, on the wealth tax, on the increase in salaries, on the taxation of multinationals.estimated economist Julia Cagé.
In the provinces too
In Avignon, in the middle of the festival, several hundred people also marched against the RN early in the evening on Wednesday, noted an AFP journalist. The show does not share the values of the extreme right”declared Ghislain Gauthier, general secretary of the CGT Spectacle. The threats to our sectors are major”he said, ” because tomorrow they would have the possibility to appoint our directors, to influence the programming, with the same aim, to defend national preference instead of openness to the world”.
Three days before the first round of the legislative elections, several thousand people (30,000 according to the organizers, 3,500 according to the prefecture) had already gathered in Paris and other gatherings had taken place in Rennes and Lille.