Marseille finger-flipping points to trouble for Eric Zemmour

 

Marseille finger-flipping points to trouble for Eric Zemmour

 

Flipping the bird is the latest mishap for the French far-right presidential hopeful.

 

BY CLEA CAULCUTT

November 28, 2021 5:31 pm

https://www.politico.eu/article/marseille-farce-puts-zemmours-campaign-on-the-skids/

 

MARSEILLE — The presidential campaign of far-right French TV pundit Eric Zemmour looks like it’s becoming unhinged even before it officially starts.

 

During a two-day stop in Marseille, Zemmour was battling bad news on several fronts.

 

First, there were the allegations in a glossy magazine that his 28-year-old de facto campaign director was pregnant with his child. Zemmour, 63, is married and has placed defending traditional family values high on his political platform.

 

Then there were the groups of leftist protesters hounding him through the backstreets of the Mediterranean port city.

 

But above all, there was the finger.

 

On Saturday, the best-selling writer was pictured making an offensive one-fingered gesture from his car window to an unknown woman as he shouted: “Very deeply.” According to the photographer from the AFP news agency who took the picture, Zemmour was responding to a similar bird-flipping gesture from the woman.

 

A member of his team later tried to explain that Zemmour had responded “instinctively” to an insult.

 

The populist pundit has upset pre-campaigning ahead of France’s presidential election next April, rising in the polls to challenge longtime far-right leader Marine Le Pen of the National Rally, with promises of hardline anti-immigration and anti-Islam policies.

 

But a series of upsets in recent days has raised questions about whether the political novice is robust enough to survive the challenges of the campaign trail.

 

Unwelcome in Marseille

The finger-flipping episode happened at the end of a fraught visit to Marseille, the last stop in Zemmour’s book promotion tour before he officially launches his campaign next week.

 

He was originally expected to meet with locals and do some glad-handing at a market. But the visit quickly turned into a cat-and-mouse game with far-left protesters, intent on showing he was not welcome.

 

On Friday, a leisurely stroll with a supporter in a historic Marseille neighborhood turned into a 15-minute dash as protesters and angry locals shouted “racist” and “go home.”

 

The tone of the visit did not improve when Zemmour told the press that Marseille, France’s second-largest city and renowned for its proud sense of local identity, was “a counter-example” when it came to immigration.

 

“Marseille is the future of France in 20 years if we don’t do anything,” Zemmour predicted. “All of France will be like Marseille if we carry on welcoming 400,000 immigrants per year.”

 

On Saturday his team also canceled a visit to a fish market in the Marseille port, citing bad weather.

 

A difficult couple of days

The picture of him giving the finger to a member of the public sparked a wave of disapproval among political opponents and even potential allies.

 

Lawmaker Bruno Questel, from President Emmanuel Macron’s La République En Marche party, tweeted that the gesture was “undignified” and called for an end to Zemmour’s “bad joke” campaign.

 

MEP Gilbert Collard from Le Pen’s National Rally told BFMTV “the middle-finger gesture was extremely grave.”

 

Many of Zemmour’s supporters tried to shrug off the incident, but it comes as missteps and mishaps are giving backers cold feet.

 

Last week, a key supporter withdrew his backing of Zemmour after it was revealed that his €300,000 loan might fall foul of campaign funding rules. Former minister Philippe de Villiers, an ally in the conservative camp, also announced he would be skipping Zemmour’s first campaign rally in Paris next Sunday. The latest polls show a sharp dip in support in recent weeks.

 

But while his campaign is currently facing difficulties, it would be a mistake to write him off.

 

Zemmour promised an end to politics as usual and to bring authenticity to a political world he says is rife with hypocrisy and complacency. The trials and tribulations of other populist figures, such as U.S. President Donald Trump, also show how those embracing an anti-establishment line can survive disasters that would kill the careers of mainstream politicians.

 

Or it may be that what started as a high-minded campaign to restore Gallic grandeur will end as a French farce.