The mood has taken a dark and intolerant turn in France since the National Rally’s (NR) victory in the first round of voting in the parliamentary elections last weekend. The left and Macron’s centrists have not accepted their reverse with good grace. On Sunday evening there were spontaneous protests in several cities, including Bordeaux, where police had to use tear gas to disperse an angry crowd of 200.
In Cherbourg on Monday, a gang of Antifa assaulted Nicolas Conquer, a candidate for the wing of the centre-right Republicans that has allied with NR. He said later that it was another sign of the ‘normalisation of political violence by the extreme left’. Last month a candidate from NR suffered a minor stroke after being assaulted on the campaign trail.
Some vote for the NR simply to spite this elite
On Monday, a group of well-known rappers published a song calling on voters to get behind the left-wing Popular Front coalition in Sunday’s second round.
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