Place Salvador Allende, a stone’s throw from Les Invalides in Paris, is starting to fill up. Under the trees weighed down by the rain, the elected representatives of the National Rally and the members of Reconquête (Eric Zemmour’s party) crowd together. The two far-right parties are participating this Sunday, November 12, in the great march against anti-Semitism. But elected officials from different sides have warned: they do not wish to walk alongside them. No place for Marine Le Pen in the leading procession, forced to enter as a pariah, flanked in spite of herself by her best Zemmourist enemies. An executive begins to dream: “We could march all together, Marine Le Pen, Éric Zemmour, Marion Maréchal and Jordan Bardella, that would look great!” The Lepenists have little taste for this outstretched hand. “Remind me already, who is Reconquest?”, disdainfully blurts out the secretary general of the RN group in the Assembly Renaud Labaye.
Enough with the jokes. Marine Le Pen arrives, accompanied by Jordan Bardella. The press rushes to question her. Does she feel at home in this event? Does she understand, given the history of her party, and past anti-Semitic statements from Jean-Marie Le Pen, that some are protesting against her presence? “We are exactly where we should be,” she says. “And if certain politicians do not have the grandeur to rise above the event and continue to play petty politicking, that says it all. longer on them than on us.”
A shared welcome
“You have no shame ?” adds the member for Pas-de-Calais to a journalist whose question is becoming a little pressing. Annoyed, she turns her back on the swarm of microphones to join her comrades. They begin to chant his name rhythmically. “Navy, Navy, Navy!” She cuts it short. “Please, now is absolutely not the time.” The chosen one does not want to be noticed. She adds: “Okay, I’m going to join you, because given the level of baseness in the press, I’m appalled.” The crowd itself is divided. On the sidelines, two fifty-year-olds talk. The first does not recover from the scene that unfolds before him. “I’m a far-left Jew, and seeing these fascists marching here makes me nauseous.” The second retorts: “Sir, times have changed, there is a political recomposition, we are all here for the same cause, their presence is legitimate.”
The march begins. First reception committee: the Golem collective, claimed by left-wing Jews, led by lawyer Arié Alimi, who protested loudly against the presence of the frontists. They are contained by the police. The incident is brought under control, the procession joins the crowd. Reactions vary. Passing in front of the RN procession, a woman in her forties says, exasperated: “You have nothing to do here, it’s shameful!” She is booed by activists who retort: “The shame is LFI!” – Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s party did not wish to join the demonstration. On the side, Spanish marchers clap their hands frantically as elected officials pass. A young man informs them: it is Marine Le Pen. The applause stops abruptly. A few meters away, Eric Zemmour and Marion Maréchal benefit from a warmer welcome. Around them, a few whistles, but above all activists who came to take selfies and congratulate the disappointed presidential candidate. One of them predicts: “Le Pen, she will go to bed, that’s for sure, it’s Zemmour or nothing.”
“What do you want me to tell you… at least she’s here”
Marine Le Pen continues to move forward at a slow pace. At the tail of the comet, she is accompanied by mayors, deputies and RN MEPs, in a united procession. Criticism becomes rarer as the crowd moves forward. Preceded by the procession of the Jewish Defense League (LDJ), a small far-right group known for its violent actions, Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella are increasingly acclaimed. Demonstrators flock to congratulate her. In turn, the members of the LDJ chant “Mélenchon, asshole” and “Marine, president!” They are called to order: Marine Le Pen does not want the tone to rise.
The head of the procession is well advanced, but the RN is happy on the Esplanade des Invalides where the march gets bogged down a little. The Frontist delegation is frozen, passers-by rush to take photos of it, Grévin Museum style. “Marine, it’s Marine!”, chant the passers-by as they take out their smartphones. A few still have a disapproving look. Others are resigned, like this right-wing Jewish voter, who never voted for RN. He approaches Jean-Marie Le Pen’s daughter and congratulates her: “Bravo, I’m proud of you.” And turns to his friend, looking sorry: “What do you want me to tell you… at least she’s here.”
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