French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said on Sunday she will fight peacefully against running a public office for five years and is inspired by the US leader of civil rights, Martin Luther King Jr., while thousands of people gathered in Paris to support her.
A Paris Court sentenced Le Pen and two dozen members of the National Meeting Party (RN) last week for misappropriation of the European Union funds and imposed a sentence that prevents her from running for 2027 presidential elections in France unless she can annul the decision in 18 months.
“We’ll follow Martin Luther King as an example,” Le Pen said in a video appearance for Matteo Salvini’s Italian Anti-Immigration Party, who was holding a meeting in Florence.
“Our struggle will be a peaceful struggle, a democratic struggle. We will follow Martin Luther King, who defended civil rights as an example.”
Le Pen’s supporters stirred French flags and shouted “we will win” when they gathered in the center of Paris on Sunday afternoon for a protest, which can give an indication of how popular support exists for their accusations that the prosecutors of the case sought their “political death.”
Retired Marie-Claude Bonnefont, 79, said she was against “this parody of a decision against Le Pen.”
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“We should really question the impartiality of the judges,” another protester told Political Science student Typhaine Quere, to Reuters.
There was no immediate police estimate about participation in Sunday’s protest, but the organizers said about 15,000 people gathered.
Le Pen Still ahead
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The court ruling was a hard blow to Le Pen, 56. The head of the National Meeting is one of the most prominent figures of the far far -off European right and is ahead in the surveys for the 2027 elections in France.
Le Pen appealed the court ruling and promised on Sunday to use all the tools and legal means to be able to run in 2027. The court said it will issue a decision on the appeal in the summer of 2026.
An opinion poll conducted by Elabe on Saturday showed that Le Pen is still a favorite to win the first round of presidential vote, with support between 32% and 36%, ahead of former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who has between 20.5% and 24% of voting intentions.
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However, Le Pen’s attacks and his allies about the “Judges Tyranny” did not gain strength, even among some of his supporters, especially after the main judge in his case was placed under police protection after death threats.
Most of the French do not see any problems with the court decision.
About 65% of respondents said that “they were not shocked” with the verdict and 54% said Le Pen was treated like any other defendant, according to an Odox survey.
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Across the city, at Place de la Republique, left-wing party supporters gathered in a counter-manifestation to protest Le Pen’s attacks on the French state.
Centrist politicians, including two former ministers, Gabriel Attal and Philippe, also gathered on Sunday to show a united front against RN.
“Let’s maintain this commitment to the morality of political life and our institutions at a time when they are being challenged by the far right, which is gathering today to attack our judges, to attack our institutions,” said Attal.