Far-right French presidential candidate put in
headlock by protester at rally
Éric Zemmour formally declared his candidacy on
Tuesday, highlighting his anti-migrant and anti-Islam views
Guardian
staff and agency
Sun 5 Dec
2021 20.32 GMT
The
far-right French presidential candidate Éric Zemmour appeared to be put in a
headlock by a protester at his first campaign, a few days after he formally
declared his candidacy in a video highlighting his anti-migrant and anti-Islam
views.
Videos
online appeared to show Zemmour being grabbed by a man at the heated rally near
Paris on Sunday, during which anti-racism activists were also reportedly
attacked. He was later reported to have suffered light injuries.
The former
TV pundit announced on Tuesday that he would run in next April’s election,
joining the field of challengers seeking to unseat centrist President Emmanuel
Macron.
He held his
first event at an exhibition centre in a suburb of Paris where thousands
cheered every mention of reducing immigration and booed every reference to
Macron loudly.
“The stakes
are huge: if I win it will be the start of winning back the most beautiful
country in the world,” Zemmour told the crowd.
Fighting
broke out and chairs were thrown at activists when they stood up with “No to Racism”
written on their T-shirts, with at least two of them seen bleeding as they were
ejected from the auditorium.
A crew from
the popular but critical Quotidien nightly TV news show were also booed and
removed by security, with hostility to the media a feature of the speeches at
the event.
The rally
was seen as a chance for Zemmour to regain momentum after opinion polls showed
support for him falling over the last month as he attempted to maintain
suspense about his intentions.
Polls show
that voters currently believe Marine Le Pen, the veteran leader of the
far-right National Rally party, would make a more competent president than
Zemmour.
The latest
surveys suggest he would be eliminated in the first round if the election were
held now, with Macron tipped to win ahead of Le Pen, but analysts warn that the
outcome remains highly uncertain.
Zemmour
vowed to reduce immigration to almost zero if he were elected, dramatically
toughen up the naturalisation process, and expel failed asylum-seekers and
illegal immigrants.
France’s
right-wing Republicans party picked the boss of the Paris region Valerie
Pecresse as its nominee on Saturday after a primary dominated by talk of
immigration and crime.
Police were
on alert for far-left activists and anarchists who disrupted Zemmour’s trip
last weekend to the southern of port city of Marseille, which ended with the
candidate showing the middle finger to a woman who was protesting.
As well as
a series of recent missteps, Zemmour has seen several influential figures on
the far-right distance themselves from him, including his main financial
backer.
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